


(Falling For) A Stranger On Ice

by NightWriter89



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 2018 Winter Olympics, F/F, Major Character Injury, Snowboarding, figure skating, olympic au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-03-12 07:29:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13542621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWriter89/pseuds/NightWriter89
Summary: Emma is a snowboarder who just fell out of the selection, but got called in because one of the selected snowboarders got injured during training. Enter Regina, who is a seasoned figure skater and wants to win gold one last time before she retires. The two meet and gradually they fall in love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this started out as a request and decided to write the Olympic au myself! With a special thanks to all the supporters on the SwanQueen fanfiction on fb and my beta's! So, without further due, here is the first chapter of (Falling For) A Stranger On Ice!

_“Swan is well on her way to the Olympics this year. All of her runs were excellent and she scores higher_ _every time_ _. She is getting ready for her last run this event and you can see how relaxed she is. She doesn’t seem to worry, she knows she’s got this in the bag. Aaand there she goes. She lines up for a Haakon and she lands perfectly. Lining up for a supercat, which she ends sloppy. We’re not used to that, let’s hope she gets herself straight again. She’s making speed and performs a crail. Swan is speeding up again, getting ready for her last trick, a Double McTwist. If she doesn’t get a perfect score for that, I don’t know what else she has to do. Oh no! She doesn’t have enough speed, she isn’t high enough! Swan crashes! She crashed hard and isn’t getting up. Oh no, this isn’t good. There goes her Olympic dream.”_

**Chapter One**

**January 28 th, 00.10 - Portland**

The T.V. flickered in the dark room before it got switched off. Emma Swan leant her head back against the lazy chair and massaged her tired eyes with one hand. She knew she didn't have enough speed to perform the trick safely, but with the Olympics in the back of her mind, she had wanted to end with a bang. Rewatching the video had confirmed her fears, she should have played it safe after that 360. One of her bindings had come loose and she knew she wouldn’t be able to gather enough speed. It had landed her in hospital with a severe concussion, bruised ribs, a broken wrist and a damaged ego. This crash had eliminated her from the Olympics. The doctors had told her she would recover in time, but coach Gold hadn’t wanted to take a risk and had given her spot to her runner up. Her next shot would be in four years, she had no idea if she would be competing by then, snowboarding took a toll on her body.

“Why do you keep torturing yourself?”

Emma turned around to face the voice that belonged to her best friend since forever, Neal Cassidy. Neal was a snowboarder as well, the one who introduced her to the sport. He had made it into the USA team and would be leaving for PyeongChang in a couple of days.

“Because I’m a masochist, don’t you know?” Emma joked as she stood up.

“I do, otherwise you wouldn’t be a very good snowboarder,” Neal replied and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

He had been there that day, and all other days during rehab. He had seen her down in the dumps and had tried everything to cheer her up. Emma had been so grateful to him for being there, even though he had a tight training schedule.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” she questioned.

Neal shrugged, steering them to the bar in the kitchen. “Can’t sleep. Pre-game jitters, I think.”

“I understand. Damn, I wish I could be there,” Emma sighed as she accepted a bottle of water.

“You’ll get it next time, Swan,” Neal replied softly.

“Well, now I don’t have to work myself into any sweat. Just going to watch you,” Emma joked. “But seriously, you should get some sleep,” she added as she saw it was well past midnight.

“So should you. Or do you want to sleepwalk through your lesson tomorrow?” Neal teased.

Emma chuckled. Now that her Olympic plans had fallen through, she had promised to pick up a few of the teaching slots at the ski dome. Tomorrow she would be teaching a bunch of 7 year olds.  She loved kids and liked to teach, so it would be a good past time these coming weeks. She also had to keep up with her training, there would be enough competitions this coming year and she wanted to stay in perfect shape.

“What’s the first class tomorrow?” Neal pressed on, trying to steer the conversation away from the Olympics.

“Skiing. Not my favorite, but hey. Someone needs to pick up the slack,” she retorted with a sly smile.

“You know you have two skis, not one. One for each foot,” Neal pestered back.

Emma shoved him with her cast-encased arm and chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“When is it coming off?” he asked, motioning to the bright green cast on Emma’s wrist.

“This week, if the doctor agrees,” she replied as she stood up and yawned. “I’m off to catch some zzz’s. You should too,” she urged.

“Yes, ma’am.” Neal mock saluted her and shut off the light in the kitchen. “Good night, squirt.”

“Night, stretch.”

Emma shuffled into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She let herself fall onto the bed and groaned. She knew Neal only wanted to help, but she was really gutted about not going to PyeongChang. She had worked her ass off and one stupid moment of overachieving costed her her dream. Above all, she was mostly mad at herself. She should have taken it easy, she already had it in the bag. Why did she have to show off? They already knew she was good, otherwise they wouldn’t have had selected her. Emma rolled onto her stomach and stared forlornly at the cast on her arm. This would be a long, long night…

 

~~~

**January 28 th, 08.30 - Portland**

Removing her goggles, Emma looked back at the slopestyle she just came off. She had practiced a few simple tricks, trying not to strain her wrist. Slopestyle had been the first thing she had tried when she started snowboarding and it always felt save to return to. She slid to the side where she had set up a tablet and camera and replayed the video. She nodded approvingly and decided to go down one more time before her lesson started. She set up again and made her way to the elevator that would bring her back up the slope. When she got out of the elevator at the top, Killian ‘Hook’ Jones lazily made his way over to her. Emma drew a deep breath, she and Killian had a certain history. He had once attempted, drunkenly, to hook up with her. It had ended with him on the floor, grabbing his balls. Even before that he had been a bully, thinking he was better than everyone else. Emma always had despised those kinds of people. She had come across her fair share of bullies and managed to find a way to deal with them. From experience, she knew not everyone could do that and it had made her overprotective over the weaker ones.

“Swan,” he drawled.

“Killian,” she greeted him shortly.

“What are you doing here, busting your balls? It’s not like you have anything to do these coming weeks. Except teaching,” he remarked as he leant nonchalantly on the balustrade.

Internally Emma counted to ten to keep herself from swinging him over the railing. Killian had been overjoyed when she was left off the team and seized every opportunity to tease her about it.

“Training. I want to make sure I’ll be in top form next time,” she said through gritted teeth.

Killian nodded and stared down the half pipe. “I’m not even sure why they let women like you compete. Women are no way near as good as us men," he said thoughtfully, as if the idea was really a head breaker for him.

Emma closed her fists in anger and kept counting to ten. “Because, luckily, the Olympic committee isn't formed by… people like you. They recognize talent, you only like to see yourself,” she snarled at him.

“Talent? You call that talent? Please,” he snickered and looked back at her. “You’re never going to be good enough. But don’t let me keep you from ‘training’.”

He pushed himself off of the banister and strolled away. Counting to ten wasn’t helping anymore and she would have gone for him if she wasn’t strapped to her board. Instead she directed her anger toward the half pipe beneath her and set off. It would prove to be her best set yet today, with various tricks and even the Double McTwist she couldn’t pull off during the qualification. Having drained most of her anger on the half pipe, she loosened her bindings and unhooked the tablet from the camera. She would watch the video during her break, she was running late for the skiing lesson.

~~~

Exhausted, Emma slid in a booth in the cafeteria three hours later. Teaching 7 year olds was more draining than an hour training under coach Gold. She lifted the bottle of water to her lips and gulped down half of the bottle.

“Someone’s thirsty.”

Emma looked up and found a tired looking and sweaty Neal next to her. “Want some?” she asked as she offered him the bottle. Thankful, he accepted the bottle and finished it in three big gulps. “Someone’s talking,” Emma chuckled as Neal sunk on the chair across from her.

“Gold is a maniac,” he complained.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Emma smirked.

As Neal recovered with his head on his hands, Emma grabbed her tablet out of her bag and replayed the video from earlier. She was quite content with the results, her run was almost clean save from a few beauty flaws because of her wrist.

“Wow, that looked good,” Neal commented having surreptitiously watched along. “What did you take? You practically flew down the pipe.”

“Nothing. I ran into Hook,” Emma explained.

“Ah. I was wondering why he was so cheerful,” he said, voice muffled as he had laid his head back down.

“I swear, one day,” Emma threatened, but fell silent as a group of new people entered the cafeteria. “What are they doing here?” she asked as she observed the group.

Neal lifted his head up long enough to see to whom Emma was referring. “Oh, that’s the figure skating delegation of our Team USA and that’s the coach, Victoria Belfrey. There is some sort of press thingy. I have to be there as well in an hour,” he replied still muffled.

“Then you should try and look alive by then,” Emma joked and averted her attention back to the figure skating group.

They had resided on the far end of the cafeteria, shielded away from the rest. Emma briefly spotted Regina Mills, who was more widely known as the Evil Queen, and her skate partner Daniel Colter. Emma had heard through the grapevine that this would be her last Olympics; she would retire right after. Emma thought it was a shame, it was a marvel to watch her skate.

“Is the rest of Team USA coming as well?” Emma asked, diverting her eyes when someone blocked her sight from Regina.

Neal finally stretched upright and glanced towards the group. “Yes. It’s some big press conference before they fly us off to South Korea,” he said.

“Cool. You think I can sneak a peek?” Emma asked excited.

“Sorry, squirt. Invite only.” Neal sounded as disappointed as she felt.

“I see.” Emma stuffed her tablet back in her bag and stood up. “Got to go, next class is starting in ten,” she said, her voice sounding cold. She hadn’t meant to, but once again she got rubbed in the face by the fact that she wasn’t part of Team USA this year.

“I’m really sorry, Ems.” Neal stood up as well and hugged her tightly.

Emma didn’t normally like being hugged, but Neal was an exception. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know,” she murmured. “It’s not your fault,” she said as she stepped back. “Go have fun at your press thingy. I’m going to try not to strangle these kids,” she joked.

“You like kids!” he called after her as she made her way through the cafeteria.

On her way out, she passed the figure skating group and she couldn’t help but look at them. Most of them were chatting relaxed with each other, but Regina was sat in the far corner and keeping out of all conversations. The moment Emma passed the group Regina looked up and, for a moment, their eyes locked. A cold shiver ran down Emma’s spine as she encountered the cold look Regina gave her. Emma quickly ducked her head down and walked out of the cafeteria. No wonder everyone called her Evil Queen, Emma mused as she made her way to the slope.

**February 2th, 19.30 – Portland**

Emma glanced at her own reflection in the mirror, tonight was Neal’s farewell party. She wore her favorite outfit, consisting of a pair of black ripped jeans, a black tank top and a red and black checkered blouse. Adding a pair of black Doc Martens and red lipstick, she was ready to go.

“Em, come on! Our cab is here!” Neal called out.

“Coming!” Emma replied and dashed out of her room.

Neal wolf whistled as he saw her and Emma shoved him. “Bringing out the gay again?” Neal teased her.

“Well, my schedule cleared suddenly and my roommate is gone for a while, so someone needs to entertain me,” Emma teased back as she made her way to the cab.

“I hope I find the house in one piece,” Neal groaned.

“Don’t get your hopes up!” she burst out laughing.

She had always known she was more into girls than boys and Neal had been the first one she had come out to. Now it was a well-known fact in the snowboarding world, except for the dimwit Hook who had nonetheless tried to hook up with her. Emma had never hidden it, she was proud to be gay and she had grown up to be some sort of role model. She was active in the LGBTQ community and liked to be an ambassador for the community.

“Come on, we’re here.”

Neal literally pulled her out of her thoughts and out of the cab. Neal’s farewell party would be in their favorite pub and Emma knew all of the usual suspects would be there: Killian, Ruby, Anna, Jesse, Graham and Ashley. Most of them would be going to the Olympics as well, except for Anna. She was not ready yet for these Olympics but would be trying out for 2020. Emma was glad that not everyone would be off and she wouldn’t be left to her own devices.

“Emmaaaaaaa!” Ruby flung herself around Emma as soon as she set foot in the pub. “Looking for a hook up tonight?” she giggled, looking at Emma’s outfit.

“Someone’s got to warm my bed when all of you are gone,” Emma countered with a smirk, she knew Ruby almost as long as Neal. The two of them met at Ruby’s grandmother's diner. Emma had been placed in a foster home across the street of the diner. Her birth parents had left her on the side of a road when she was a baby and ever since she had been in the system. It’s where she met Neal for the first time. The foster home across from the diner hadn’t been all that bad, only the food stank. Emma soon had discovered the diner and become a regular. When she started snowboarding, she had made Ruby excited about it as well and now they both were signed by Red Bull.

“You’re already thinking of a replacement when I’m not even gone yet?” Ruby pouted.

“I bet you’re already dreaming of all the girls and guys you can get in bed in the Village,” Emma laughed as they made their way to their booth.

Ruby was out and proud bi and didn’t let anyone forget. “The more exotic the better,” Ruby sighed dreamily.

Emma shook her head and made her way to the bar to get a drink for her and Neal. She ordered two beers and started to look around. Suddenly her eye caught familiar brown hair and her mouth dropped a few inches when she recognized her. Regina fuckin’ Mills was here, in their bar. Emma grabbed the two beers and made her way back to their booth.

“Guess who’s here,” she said excitedly.

“Who?” Killian asked with a drawling voice.

“Regina Mills. What the hell is she doing here?” Emma replied, ignoring Killian completely.

“That stuck up bitch? Where?” Ruby immediately shot in a competitive mode.

“Ruby, down. She’s not the competition,” Neal interjected.

“Are you sure? Nothing says she can’t just skate down my half pipe,” Ruby argued angrily.

Regina and Ruby once had clashed famously during an event. Although they weren’t competition on the ice or the half pipe, they were competition for the same guy. Ruby lost hopelessly and now the guy was Regina’s skating partner and lover. Or so the gossip goes. Ruby had been in ruins for months, until she lost her heart to Dorothy. Dorothy had been around a few weeks, until Ruby was bored and dumped her. Ruby was a bit of a player and Emma had long ago given up the hope for Ruby to be calm and well mannered. Regina apparently still struck a chord with Ruby.

“Ruby, calm down. I doubt she even remembers,” Emma said, in an attempt to calm her friend down.

“She should! Daniel was mine!” Ruby roared.

Graham grabbed Ruby’s flailing arms to keep her seated and Jesse, a quiet bloke, but excellent snowboard crosser, handed the angry brunette another beer.

“Calm your tits. I don’t want to get kicked out of our bar because you murdered a gold medalist over a bloody _guy_ ,” Killian spoke up with a sudden stern voice.

“I won’t kill her. Just strangle her a bit,” Ruby muttered.

“I came here to have fun with you guys before you have fun without me in South Korea,” Emma interjected.

“I wish you could come!” Ruby whined, apparently having forgotten about Regina already.

“Me too, believe me. Make me, make us proud up there okay?” Emma proposed, holding up her beer.

“To the Olympics!” Ruby declared.

“To gold!”

Glasses were clinked and at the end of the evening, Emma’s world was spinning slightly. She usually refrained from drinking too much, because standing on top of a half pipe with a hangover was not pretty. Feeling that she needs to pee, she made her way to the bathroom. Almost tripping over a barstool, she collided with a body. The person before her jerks around and she was face to face with Regina. Emma opened and closed her mouth, not sure of what to say.

“Sorry!” she called over the noise. “This barstool just appeared out of nowhere,” she tried to joke.

Regina didn’t reply, she only stared calculatingly at Emma with those startling, bright brown eyes. She tilted her head slightly, as if considering Emma.

“Sorry!” Emma tried again and backed away from Regina, this time without tripping.

Replaying the weird encounter with the queen of the ice, Emma waited for a stall to become free. As far as she knew, she had never met Regina before. So why was she looking so… strangely at her? Did Regina know she was friends with Ruby and didn’t reply because of that? It didn’t make any sense to her. Emma hopped from one foot to another when her bladder urgently called for attention. Finally it was her turned and, relieved, she sat down. Regina’s eyes seemed to follow her in her head, they hadn’t looked accusing, just mildly confused. Emma shook her head, Regina probably hadn’t heard her over the noise. She quickly finished and walked out of the bathroom back into the overcrowded bar. On her way to their booth, she looked for Regina but didn’t spot her anywhere. She sunk down next to Ruby, who immediately pulled her into a game of beer pong against the boys. Emma decided wisely she wouldn’t mention her run-in with Regina, otherwise there would be a murder tonight. She happily dove into the game and the girls gave the boys a run for their money with a victorious win. At the end of the evening their group was the last to get kicked out of the bar and together with Neal Emma made her way home.

“Thanks for tonight,” she said.

“It was your idea,” Neal smirked.

“I know, but still…” Emma replied shyly.

Neal wrapped his arm around Emma and pulled her closer. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

Emma nodded, but knew it would be two lonely weeks…

**February 7 th, 06.10 – Portland**

An annoying ringing in her ear woke Emma up. Groggily she opened one eye, it was only ten past six in the morning. What idiot would be calling at that time? Blindly, she reached for her phone and shoved it off her night stand. Groaning she lifted herself up and picked it up from the floor. Without looking at it she answered it.

“Swan.”

_“Emma, it’s coach Gold. Are you up?”_

“Not really, coach, why…?”

_“Get up, Swan and pack your stuff. You’re coming to the Olympics.”_

“What?”

“ _I’ll explain later. Get your butt over here, you have a 09.30 flight.”_

The line went dead and Emma stared incredulous at her phone. She was going to the Olympics! She was freaking going to the fucking Olympics.

At 09.30.

Shit…


	2. Chapter 2

**February 8 th, 12.30 – PyeongChang**

Bleary eyed and jetlagged, Emma checked in at the Olympic Village. Luckily none of her flights had been delayed, so she was well on time for the opening ceremony tomorrow. Dragging her suitcase with her, she entered the lobby. She wasn’t the only one who arrived late, the lobby was filled with athletes who wanted to check in. The line was quite long, so Emma decided she would make herself comfortable. Out of her bag she pulled her phone and texted Ruby that she had arrived.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Get your ass here, girl. Who are you rooming with?

 **SnowySwan:** Don’t know yet. I’m still in the check-in line.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Hope it’s someone hot.

 **SnowySwan:** I’m not here to fuck around, Rube. I’m here to win.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Lameeee! No, just kidding.

 **SnowySwan:** Who are you rooming with?

“Next!” Emma stepped up and showed her ID to the lady behind the check-in desk. “Please state your country,” the lady asked in an robotic way.

Emma figured she had been saying the same thing for days. “United States.”

The lady nodded and riffled through some paperwork. After a while she looked up, squinting. “Are you a last minute entry?” she asked.

“Yes.”

The lady nodded again and disappeared from behind the desk without a word. Emma sighed, it wasn't going smooth already. Trying to stay patient, Emma started to look around her. Most athletes looked tired from the flight. Emma spotted a few well-muscled guys, she figured they were skaters judging by the size of their legs. One of them looked up and smiled friendly at her, Emma returned the smile.

“Team USA?” he asked.

Emma held up her bag and nodded. “You?”

“The Netherlands. Aren’t you that snowboarder that had that nasty crash?” he inquired.

“Yeah, thanks for the reminder,” Emma replied, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Hey, you still made it,” he said as he moved forward in his line.

“Yeah. What do you do?” she asked curious.

“Speedskating. I’m Michel,” he said, reaching out to shake her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Michel. Good luck with your matches,” she said. “I’ll try to catch one.”

“Cool. What kind of snowboarding do you do?” he asked, motioning to her board.

“I’m an alternate, but for these Games I do half pipe.”

“Nice. Well, best of luck, I’ll try to catch a run of yours,” he replied smiling.

“Cool.”

“Miss Swan?”

The lady had returned behind the desk with a well filled folder and Emma returned her attention to her.

“Yes.”

“I found your application. Your suit is on the thirty-third floor, room thirty-three-fifty-six. You’ll find a map of the village in this folder, along with the overall program, your training schedule and timetable of your games. And I have this for you.” The lady handed her a second suitcase, imprinted with the five rings of the Olympic Games. Emma took it and felt it was quiet heavy. “Good luck and have fun here in the Olympic Village in PyeongChang,” she told Emma as she handed her the folder.

“Thank you.”

Emma shoved the folder in her bag, waved at the Dutch skater and walked briskly out of the lobby towards the elevator. She saw she wasn’t the only one and when an empty car arrived, she had to squeeze herself and her equipment bag in the car. She shuffled as far back as she could, seeing as she had to go to the 33th floor. Emma dug up the folder in her bag while the elevator made its slow way up and glanced at the first page. It was a document detailing her rooming situation. Her eyes went big as she saw she would be rooming with Kathryn Nolan. Third time Olympian gold medalist in figure skating. Emma had heard of her, Kathryn dominated the singles for the past four years. Emma had also heard Kathryn could be following in Regina's footsteps when she retired, if only Kathryn would find a partner that could handle her. Emma groaned internally, this could be a downright nightmare. She shoved the folder back and saw there were only three people left in the car. Suddenly she recognized one of them, it was Daniel Colter, Regina’s skate partner. Daniel was engrossed in his phone, but felt Emma looking at him, because suddenly he looked up.

“Hey. A fellow team mate,” he smiled brightly.

“Yeah. Just arrived,” Emma said awkwardly.

“Didn’t see you at the press conference, did I? I would’ve remembered you,” he winked.

“No, I’m a last minute entry. One of my teammates got injured during training,” Emma told him.

She hadn’t been able to reach Gold in between flights, so she still had no idea who had been the one that got injured and who she had to replace. She hadn’t heard anything from her teammates, so she was wondering what was going on and who had been injured. It hadn’t been any of her friends, or she would have heard of it.

“I’m sorry to hear. So now you're lucky enough to take their place and grace us with your beauty?”

“Yes. I can hardly believe it,” she smiled, ignoring his flirting.

The car stopped a floor under hers and Daniel made a move to get out. “Well, good luck and if you need any help waxing your board, I’m in room 3205,” he winked before the doors closed.

“Ieuw,” the guy in the corner said. He turned to face her. “You know him?”

“Not really. He’s a figure skater on my team,” Emma replied, shaking her head.

“Figures. I’m Gregory Nowak, Poland. I do skeleton,” he clarified.

Emma whistled impressed. “Daredevil.”

“You’re one to talk. You speed down a freaking half pipe. Willingly,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, but you go down head first. At least I keep standing on my board,” Emma interjected.

The car came to a halt and Emma grabbed her stuff with her. Gregory followed her suit.

“If you're lucky. Which you weren’t,” he said and abruptly shut his mouth. “Sorry.”

Emma burst out laughing. “Don’t be. You’re one of the first to really joke about it. It was my own stupid fault. I’m Emma, by the way. Emma Swan,” she said as she reached out her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Emma, Emma Swan.” Gregory came to a halt before a door. “This is me. Hey, if you just want to relax and grab a pizza or something…” Suggestively he tapped the number of his door, 3343.

“I’ll keep that in mind. And if you want to remind me more of my failure, I’m in 3356,” she smirked.

“Cool.”

Emma picked up her suitcase and walked down the hall to her suite. After some stumbling, she managed to open the door and got greeted by an enormous suite with two beds. Her roommate had surprisingly not taken the bed near the window and Emma dumped her stuff on the bed. With her hands on her hips she looked outside and got greeted by the most gorgeous view. Mountains covered with snow and a blue sky stretched out before her. She returned to the suitcase with the Olympic rings and opened it. In it laid her official Olympic Games snowboarding gear. It was all whitish and kind of looked like a spacesuit. Emma was not sure she liked it, but she would stand out for sure. Just to see if it fit, she tried on the hooded jacket.

“So they finally found me a roommate.”

Emma swirled around and found Kathryn leaning nonchalantly against the doorpost.

“Hi, I’m…”

“A snowboarder,” Kathryn said while wrinkling her nose and completely ignoring Emma.

Emma rose to her feet and walked over to her stuff. “Yeah. So I’m Emma. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, extending her hand.

Kathryn looked at it as if Emma would give her some sort of disease. “Yeah, no. We are not doing this. Go get another roommate. 

With that, Kathryn grabbed her Olympic jacket and bag and was out of the door, leaving Emma flabbergasted behind. She blinked a few times before reaching for her phone and sending Ruby a text.

 **SnowySwan:** I’ve got a figure skater for a roommate. The chick is derailed.

Emma laid down the phone and stared back outside. Looking at the beautiful mountains, her horror roommate disappeared to the back of her mind. She still couldn’t believe she was here. Two days ago she had been moping around alone and now she was actually on the other side of the world for the Olympics she had worked so hard for. She wrapped her arms around her knees and for a moment thought back of her sixteen-year-old self. She had been on a destructive path then and had almost derailed if it hadn’t been for Neal. He really had saved her life and so had snowboarding. Boarding had given her a purpose, especially when people, important people, started noticing her. It had cost her her blood, sweat and a lot of injuries to be here and she would do anything to make her country proud. Most of all, she hoped she would make herself proud. A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts and she jumped to her feet. She opened the door and found herself face to face with the one and only Regina Mills.

“You are not Kathryn.”

Something about her voice was off, but Emma couldn’t place what it was. She did find it surprisingly nice to hear Regina’s voice, she couldn’t recall if she ever heard her speak. Regina’s voice sounded soft, almost too soft for her demeanor. It wasn’t the only thing that didn’t match Regina’s strong and stern reputation, her eyes were exceptional bright and soft at the same time.

“Uh, no. Sorry,” Emma said. Regina got that calculating, confused look in her eyes again and she tilted her head slightly. “She left a while ago.”

Regina nodded and diverted her eyes. “Thank you.”

Regina strode off into the hallway and Emma had to restrain herself to strain her neck to look after Regina. The soft sound of the brunette’s voice kept bouncing around in Emma’s head long after she had closed the door. Emma walked back to her spot on the floor, a bit off balance by Regina’s surprise appearance. Mindlessly, she picked up her phone and saw Ruby had almost blown it up.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Please don’t tell me it’s Mills.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Is it Mills?

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Or Daniel? Please, let it be Daniel!

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Emma?

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Hello? You there?

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** Em! I swear, I’ll turn every corner of this hotel if you don’t answer!

Emma chuckled and quickly replied, she knew Ruby wasn’t joking about turning this place upside down.

 **SnowySwan:** Calm your tits. It’s neither Mills or Daniel. I’ve got Kathryn Nolan.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** What color flowers do you want on your funeral?

Emma snorted out loud, there was seriously something wrong with Ruby. It’s why she loved that girl so much.

 **SnowySwan:** Fuck off. What’s your room number?

She quickly snapped a picture of the mountains and sent it to Neal.

 **SnowySwan:** I made it!

 **Neal_Sk8_Boi:** Yes! I’m glad you made it in one piece.

 **Neal_Sk8_Boi:** This means I’ll find the house in one piece as well!

 **SnowySwan:** Says who? Maybe I fled the ruins.

 **Neal_Sk8_Boi:** Oh no, you didn’t. Fuck you, Swan.

 **SnowySwan:** I’ll have a hard pass on that. What time is training, btw?

 **Neal_Sk8_Boi:** Uh, at three-thirty.

 **SnowySwan:** Okay. See you there, I’m going to take a nap.

Emma laid her phone away and crawled on her bed. She had the presence of mind to set an alarm clock and drifted off to a sleep filled with soft voices and curious brown eyes…

**February 8 th, 14.45 – PyongChang**

Patiently, Emma stood waiting at the in-check desk waiting for her turn. She hadn’t had much sleep, Kathryn threatening words had kept her up. Her jetlag wasn’t working in her favor as well, so after an hour or so she had given up.

“How can I help you?”

Emma looked up and saw a friendly smiling man looking at her.

“Hi. I only arrived today and my roommate and I don’t really get along. To be honest, she almost threw me out. Can you check and see if I can bunk with someone else?” Emma asked hopeful.

“Let me see. What’s your country?” he asked as he looked at the screen in front of him.

“USA.”

He nodded and stayed quiet for a while. He clicked around and eventually looked up regretful. “I’m sorry, Miss Nolan is the only option for you.”

“Okay. Thanks for checking anyway,” she said and realized she had to make amends with the skater if she wanted to enjoy her two weeks here.

“I’m sorry. I hope you can work it out.”

“Me too. Have a nice day,” she said.

“You too.”

Emma walked away from the desk and decided to go and find the fitness center. She exited the hotel and scouted around the village. It was a large set up, starting with the residence facilities. There were at least six different buildings, all housing the athletes. Emma wondered if they were classified by country. She knew there was a second athlete's village a few miles away because the venues were far away from each other. It would make it harder to visit the different venues, but Emma planned on visiting a few of them anyway, as she wanted to see a game or two to support her team. Emma walked past the main dining hall and made a note to remember the shortest route. The entire atmosphere was an excited one, everyone was thrilled to be here and just compete. Emma herself could barely contain how overjoyed she was to be here and the atmosphere around her was infectious. With a wide smile, she made her way around to village and soon enough she found the fitness center. She hadn’t even crossed the threshold when a red streak was flying toward her neck.

“Emmaaaaaaa!”

“Hi, Red. Nice to see you too,” Emma chuckled.

“How is that jetlag treating you?” Ruby asked smirking.

“Like a bitch. Couldn’t sleep. And my moody roommate didn’t help either,” Emma replied.

Ruby pulled her into one of the booths in the corner of the fitness room, it was no way near the time for practice. “What about her?” Ruby questioned.

“Well, she doesn’t want me as her roommate, she practically kicked me out. But there’s no way I can bunk with anywhere else, I already checked. Everything is full,” Emma said, she really didn’t like it.

“I’m sorry. If she’s really that bad, you can secretly bunk with me. I’ve got a real cool roommate,” Ruby offered.

“Thanks, Red. But we’re all adults, I think we have to work it out,” Emma chuckled.

“I’m not so sure about those figure skaters, they come across real god-like. But enough about that. You’re here!” Ruby practically screamed.

Emma beamed. “I know right? It’s still a bit unreal,” she smirked.

“Oh, it won’t be after practice. Believe me,” Ruby replied, suddenly serious.

“Yeah, about that. I haven’t spoken to the coach yet, who am I replacing?” Emma asked curious.

“I don’t know, to be honest. I did hear someone crashed badly, but have no idea who it is,” Ruby said. “You’ll find out soon enough." Emma looked around the center, it looked really well equipped. There were numerous bicycles, treadmills, rowing machines and even snowboards attached to some moving plate, just like those bikes you see in arcades. Emma didn’t doubt she would be on one of those in the foreseeable future. “Oh, and have you found the pub? I haven’t been there yet, but boy, does the crowd look good,” Ruby winked suggestively.

Emma shook her head laughing. “I can’t believe you. You’re at the Olympics and all you can think about is to score,” she chuckled.

“Having sex before a game is proven to be the best tip to win,” Ruby objected firmly.

“Says who?”

“Oprah!”

Emma burst out laughing at Ruby’s serious face. They laughed and joked around until their teammates arrived. Neal came walking towards Emma as soon as he spotted her and engulfed her in a big hug.

“You made it,” he beamed happily.

“Yep, in one piece,” Emma replied, gladly returning the hug.

“I’m so glad you’re here. Now I’m not the only one to keep an eye on Red,” he smirked, earning him a big shove from Ruby.

“Hey, I did sleep alone last night,” Ruby protested.

“Yeah, with your roommate,” Killian interjected smirking.

“Sssst, not everyone needs to know that!” Ruby exclaimed.

“Wait! You slept with your roommate? On the first night?” Emma asked incredulous.

“…No?” Ruby said with a small voice.

“You are….”

“Cute? Adoring?”

“Unbelievable. Can’t believe we are friends,” Emma teased and shoved Ruby.

A lanky Asian woman approached them, smirking wide.

“Look who decided to come out of retirement,” she said as she hugged Emma.

“Mulan! So good to see you!” Emma replied excited. “Wait, retirement? What do you mean?”

Now Mulan looked confused and a tad bit guilty. “You haven’t talked to the coach yet?” she asked.

“No, I couldn’t get a hold of him,” Emma replied confused as well. “Why?”

“Emma, there you are,” a voice suddenly boomed.

Coach Gold had appeared, followed closely by his apprentice Gideon. Gold had found Gideon somewhere in Europe and had recognized his talent. There was a lot to say about Gold, but he had a true eye for talent. He had been the first one to scout Emma and she had stayed with him ever since. He was a maniac while training them, but all of his and their hard work paid off. Emma had cursed him a thousand times during training, but she had to thank him for standing here now.   


“Coach,” Emma said, as she looked expectantly up at him.   


“Can I have a word?” he asked.   


“Sure.”   


Nervously, Emma followed him outside. Seeing as everyone from the half pipe was present, she feared she wouldn’t be competing in the half pipe.   


“I’m glad you made it, Swan. As you’ve understood by now, someone from our team crashed during training. Hailey broke her leg and has several bruised ribs. You’re replacing her,” he told her with a serious look on his face.   


“Oh no, she worked so hard for it!” Emma exclaimed. “Wait, Hailey?”   


Hailey competed in slopestyle. Oh God. _She_ would have to compete in slopestyle…

 


	3. Chapter 3

**February 9 th, 05.30 PyeongChang**

Jet-lagged, Emma sat on the floor of her room in front of the window. She hadn’t quite acclimatized yet and felt like she was wide awake. She had tried to stay in bed as long as she could but had become so restless that at some point she had decided to get up. So her she was, in a dark room, waiting for the appropriate time to exit it. Of course, she could have gone to the fitness center as it was open all hours, but she was still sore from yesterday’s training.

The news that she would compete in slopestyle had brought her off balance. She had texted Hailey right after the news and Hailey had assured her she ‘would kick ass.’ Emma still did feel insecure. She had never considered being an alternate, but the more she thought about it, the more she grew accustomed to the idea. Slopestyle had been her first love and even though she didn’t compete anymore at world class level, Gold and the US Olympic Committee thought her good enough to participate. Gold had run her hard yesterday, having her do different types of fitness exercises. Emma could still feel her legs burn from the cardio and strength training. At the fitness center, there were a couple of snowboards attached to a moveable plate and a screen. Gold had her on it at the end of training and had her do a course. She had been proud she had still scored just below her record and it had boosted her confidence. Gold had sent them back to their quarters to get a good rest and warned them aboutgoing out. Tomorrow, or today by now, was the opening ceremony and before the opening, they would go to the Bokwang Phoenix Park to see the slopestyle terrain and half pipes.

Kathryn groaned softly in her sleep and Emma looked up. Kathryn had been anything but pleased when Emma had returned to their room.

“Why are you still here?” Kathryn had demanded, eyeing Emma’s stuff angrily.

Emma had explained that there had been no other room vacant and Kathryn had begrudgingly agreed to their rooming situation. They hadn’t spoken much, Emma had been exhausted and Kathryn hadn’t put much effort into a conversation. Emma didn’t look forward to rooming with the woman for the coming two weeks, but she had no choice. Hopefully, Kathryn would soften up a bit. Emma didn’t need them to become friends, but at least to get along for now.

“Jetlag bothering you?”

Emma looked up and found Kathryn looking at her.

“Yeah. Couldn’t possibly sleep anymore,” Emma replied.

Kathryn grabbed something off her nightstand and threw it towards Emma. “These help me whenever I travel. Knock me right out,” she said.

Emma grabbed the bottle and looked at it. Melatonin, it read. “Thanks,” Emma said. “I’ll try it. I hope I’ll get rid of it today.”

Kathryn threw the blankets away and sat on the edge of her bed. “This doesn’t mean we’re friends or anything. But seeing as you have nowhere else to go…” her voice trailed off.

Emma rose to her feet and walked over to her bed. “I know, don’t worry. I’ll try to be out of your hair as much as possible,” she offered.

Kathryn looked up at her, squinting her eyes. “That would be much appreciated.” She stood up, gathering her toiletries. “I’m going to shower,” she said and walked into the bathroom.

Emma stared after her and shook her head, it would be a challenge not to strangle the woman in her sleep. She stared at the bottle in her hand and figured the woman must have a heart somewhere. Her phone buzzed and Emma grabbed it from the nightstand.

 **Boardergurlll_Rube:** U up yet?

 **SnowySwan:** Yes. Jetlag won’t leave me alone.

 **Boardergurlll_Rube:** Wanna grab breakfast before the morning crowd?

 **SnowySwan:** Good idea. Meet you downstairs in five?

 **Boardergurlll_Rube:** Deal! Have to detach Katie from me. That girl is DEMANDING.

Emma chuckled as she read the last text.

 **SnowySwan:** You’re the worst!

 **Boardergurlll_Rube:** Maybe that’s what your roommate needs! A good fuck! Wanna trade for a night?

 **SnowySwan** : Who says I can’t give her a good fuck?!

 **Boardergurlll_Rube:** Then get on it, girl!

Emma shook her head and pocketed her phone. She considered leaving a note for Kathryn, but figured she wouldn’t care anyway. She grabbed her spacy looking white bomber jacket and left the room.

Ruby was already waiting for her in the lobby, a large grin spread on her face. Emma zipped up her jacket and walked over to her friend.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Emma smirked.

“Well, good morning to you too. Are you ready for your first Olympic breakfast?” Ruby joked.

“Hell yeah,” Emma smiled enthusiastic.

They stepped outside and Emma shivered in her jacket. It was way below freezing point and she regretted not bringing her gloves with her. They crossed the grounds quickly and stepped into the warm main dining hall. Ruby immediately made her way to the buffet.

“Pancakes!” she squealed.

Emma shook her head; Ruby really was a child. While Ruby loaded up her plate with pancakes, Emma went for a healthier option: some toast, orange juice, a banana and a slice of bread with jam. Patiently they waited for their turn at the checkout, Ruby was pointing out all the famous athletes. Emma never really cared for celebrities, but she had to admit it made her a bit giddy being around all of these top athletes. After having paid for their food, they made their way to a quiet table in the corner.

“So, how are you feeling after that news from yesterday?” Ruby asked, looking up at her friend.

“A bit conflicted. I had thought I closed that chapter on a pro-level, you know? I really wanted to shine during the half pipe event,” Emma told her. “And I’m not sure if I’m good enough anymore. I mean, things have changed so quickly in the sport. I know this dude who won gold 12 years ago, but he wouldn’t even qualify now with the same run he did back then. ” she added, sharing her insecurity.

“Gold thinks you are and so do I. I’ve watched you do it so many times, you can’t unlearn that,” Ruby said encouraging. “And you’ve been working on new tricks, some of them you learned in half pipe, remember?”

Emma nodded and took a bit of her toast, looking out of the window reminiscing. Then she looked back at her friend, smiling a little.

“Thanks, I needed that.”

As they ate their breakfast, talking about the weather and the snow, a scene at a table across from theirs pulled her attention. A man, Emma thought he was an athlete from South Korea, tried to take a picture of the woman sitting at that table. As Emma looked closer, she recognized Regina. The normally regal woman looked uncomfortable and not because of the man who was trying to take a picture. It was because of Daniel, who was trying to get rid of the man, while Regina didn’t seem opposed to taking the picture. Emma watched as Regina tried to calm Daniel down, but he just ignored her. Daniel was now rising to his feet, trying to shove the man away and Emma saw how Regina shrunk in embarrassment.

“Be right back,” she mumbled to Ruby and made her way to Regina’s table.

Regina was still trying to calm Daniel down by putting her hand on his forearm and pulling him to his chair. Angrily, he shook her hand off.

“I’ll handle this, Regina,” he snarled towards her.

“Hey,” Emma addressed Daniel, trying to get his attention.

“What? Mind your own business,” he snarled and turned his attention to the South Korean.

“I think Regina is perfectly capable of making a decision of her own. You don’t have to do that for her,” Emma pressed on.

“What? He is harassing us!” Daniel exclaimed.

“Is he? It looked to me like he just wants a photo, right?” Emma asked, turning to the man. The man nodded vigorously, holding up his camera. “And I believe Regina isn’t the worst to get a picture with him.”

Now Regina stood up, smiling coldly. “As you stated perfectly,” she glanced at Emma’s badge. “Miss Swan, I am capable of making my own decisions. Neither of you have to make them for me,” she said stiffly.

Dumbfound, Emma blinked at her. She only wanted to help and now she was the boogeyman? She watched as Regina took the picture with the athlete and the man left as happy as a kid in a candy shop. Regina sat back down and motioned for Daniel to do the same. The brunette turned her head to Emma, who was still standing there with her mouth agape.

“You can go now, miss Swan,” she said dismissively. “Or do you want a picture as well?” she added.

“Uh…no. Sorry to have bothered you,” Emma stumbled and returned to her own table.

Somewhere in her foggy brain, Emma had noticed again that something about Regina’s voice sounded off and she couldn’t place what it was. It sounded familiar though, but she couldn’t recall from what. She shook away the thought and sat back down at her table, with an incredulous looking Ruby.

“What the hell was that?” she asked.

“You are right, she is a stuck up bitch,” Emma breathed, not sure why it bothered her so much.

“Told you. Anyway, I was planning on hitting the pub tonight. You in?” Ruby pulled her into the conversation.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Maybe I can find a hook up to annoy my roommate even more,” Emma smirked.

“I like the way you think!”

 

**9 th February, 09:30 – Bokwang Phoenix Park**

Emma stepped out of the van, taking in the amazing view. They had arrived at the ski park and the press hadn’t exaggerated, the park was in an excellent state. Before her stretched the training parkour out for slope-style and beyond that she spotted the half pipe. To her left was the ski slope for ski-jumping and to her right was the biggest slalom parkour she ever saw.

“Damn!” Neal whistled next her.

“Say that again,” Ruby agreed.

“Alright, listen up. All of these are for practice purposes. The actual venue for the Games is further uphill, we’ll check those out later. I thought it would a good idea to test the snow,” Gold said, smiling widely.

Emma saw how much he was enjoying this. To be honest, she was ecstatic to see the actual snow and different parkour. With a bit of jealousy she gave the half pipe a half eye, how she wished to do a run.

“If you’re nice, you’ll get a taste of the half pipe,” Mulan said in her ear as she wrapped a loose arm around Emma’s shoulder. “But first,” she turned Emma towards the slope-style. “Let’s see what you can do, granny,” she teased.

“Granny? Who are you calling granny, huh?” Emma called as she raced after Mulan toward the slope-style parkour.

On her way up, Gold approached her. “Hey. How is your wrist feeling?” he asked, glancing at the now cast free wrist.

“It feels good, a bit stiff. I’m seeing the physiotherapist right after we’re done training,” Emma told him and showed the movement of her wrist.

“Good. Have fun out there,” he said.

“Thanks, coach,” Emma smiled at him.

With her board under her arm, she climbed up the podium. Mulan was already attaching her snowboard to her boots and looked up.

“Look, take it easy this first run, okay? Just get a feel for the snow and parkour,” she said concerned.

“I know. This isn’t my first rodeo,” Emma smirked as she sat down next to Mulan.

“I’m just saying, be careful. You just recovered. I’m only looking out for you,” Mulan said serious.

“I know, and I appreciated it. Really. Go, show me how it’s done,” Emma joked.

Mulan smirked and slid her goggles over her eyes. Emma quickly attached her boots to her board and followed Mulan to the rink. Seeing the parkour in front of her, Emma had to admit she felt a bit nervous. It had been a while since she did this and she wasn’t sure if she still knew how to do it. Mulan gave her the thumbs up and raced off. She performed trick after trick and Emma was impressed. Mulan would be serious competition, but Emma had never backed away from a good challenge. After she got the green light that the course was free, she set off. She felt like she was flying as she raced towards her first grind. With ease, she performed a backside grind and landed clear. After that she set sight on a big hill and felt she had more than enough speed. Before she knew it she was in the air and doing a simple double spin. The adrenalin was pumping through her veins as she sped towards her next obstacle. She performed trick after trick, wondering why she ever stopped with slopestyle; this was so much fun. Finally, she ended her run and was greeted by an overenthusiastic Mulan.

“You call that taking it easy?” Mulan screamed in her ear.

Emma just shrugged and smiled. “Looks like granny still has it,” she smirked.

They slid off the course and were greeted by Gold and Gideon. “That looked really tight up there, Mulan. But try to be a little bolder in competition, take the risk,” Gold started. “And Emma, your last landing was a bit sloppy, I expected better from you. But it’s like you never left, the rest looked really good. Keep working on your landings,” he said while Gideon was busy taking notes.

“Copy that, coach. Good to go again?” Mulan asked.

Gold just nodded and walked off, discussing strategies with Gideon. Emma sat down in the snow and unstrapped her board. Coach was right; her last landing had been sloppy. As she replayed her run in her head, she realized more of her landings had been sloppy. In addition, her grind could have been much sharper. Angrily she threw her gloves and goggles on the ground and started to undo her straps. With harsh movements, she removed her feet of the board and stood up, her face like a thundercloud.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over that. You did amazing,” Mulan said, surprised by Emma’s sudden anger.

“No, he was right. My landings sucked and I’m not even talking about that grind,” she spat.

Mulan stood up and grabbed Emma’s shoulders with both hands. She tried to look Emma in the eyes, but the blonde looked away.

“Ems, look at me. You’ve been off the course for years and only practiced for fun. Next time will go much better. You just needed to find the feeling again,” Mulan said firmly.

“Really?” Emma said, looking unsure.

“Yes. You’ve still got it. That spin was tight as hell and that last triple cork was off the chart,” Mulan exclaimed excitedly.

“Okay, if you say so,” Emma smiled slightly.

“I do. Now, get your ass up there before I beat you there again. Granny,” Mulan grinned.

Emma grabbed her board and sprinted down the length of the parkour, back to the stairs to get up to the podium. Maybe Mulan was right and maybe she just needed to get the feeling back. She had felt amazing doing freestyle again. It didn’t feel the same as when she did half pipe. This time she beat Mulan upstairs and went down first. At the end of her run she felt much better, even Gideon was nodding approvingly. For the rest of the day, the smile on her face remained.

 

**9 th February 13:30, PyeongChang**

Exuberant, Emma and her team returned from the ski resort. Practice had gone pretty well, Emma had perfected her landing and even dared to do a few more difficult tricks. With every passing minute, Emma felt more and more confident about the Games.

“Ems, when is your physiotherapy appointment?” Ruby asked as they entered their apartment complex.

“Not until in a couple of hours,” Emma replied as she dug her keycard out of her pocket.

“Cool. Hangout at Emma’s!” Ruby shouted to the rest.

People cheered and they crowded together in the elevator.

“Hey, I never said that,” Emma protested weakly, she liked the idea of hanging out with her team. “Maybe my room isn’t the best place. Bitchy roommate. Anyone?” she added.

“Too late,” Neal smirked as he pickpocketed her keycard and waved it in front of her eyes.

“Hey, give it back!”

Emma made a wild grab at the card, but at that moment, the elevator opened at her floor and Neal dashed out of the car. Emma started to chase after Neal, but he reached her room first and let himself in. Emma tackled him and laughing they crashed through the door. Emma did a quick swoop through the room and was relieved Kathryn wasn’t present. Ruby, Killian, Mulan, Jesse, Graham and Ashley stepped around them into the room.

“Holy shit, that view!” Ashley exclaimed.

“You have an X-Box!” Ruby cheered and immediately grabbed one of the controllers.

Within moments, they were all in front of the T.V. fighting for the remaining controllers. Ruby had started Amped 2 and eventually everyone had one. They tried to distract each other by pushing each other off the bed. Emma received a nasty push from Jesse and landed sprawled out on the floor. She forgot the game and jumped Jesse, splaying him on the bed. They wrestled each other while kicking and pushing the others. Laughter and screams filled the room and Emma finally freed herself from Jesse and got back in the game. The other players had gotten way ahead of her while she was wrestling, but she managed to get back. She even passed Ashley, who in returned shoved her. Emma just smirked and advanced on Killian. In the game she pushed him in the railings, but in real life Killian tried to hold Emma in a head lock so she wouldn’t be able to play. She ducked away, landing herself back on the ground. The sudden slam of the door silenced the room immediately and everyone but Ruby looked up. In the doorway stood a seething Kathryn. Emma opened her mouth but immediately closed it again, seeing Kathryn was almost spitting fire.

“Yes! I won! You weaklings!” Ruby cheered and jumped up. It was only then that she saw Kathryn had entered the room and looked like she was about to explode. “Hi,” she smiled sheepishly.

“OUT!” Kathryn bellowed.

Everyone but Emma scrambled to their feet and left the room. Ruby looked really guilty as she left, this had been her idea after all. Emma just shrugged as if to say she would deal with it. Neal was the last one to leave and closed the door softly behind him.

“Sorry, I thought you would be at practice for a while,” Emma started explaining. “We just wanted to unwind a bit after practice,” she added, scratching her head.

“Unwind?! I could hear you lot outside!” Kathryn exploded.

Emma winced. “I’m sorry.”

“Stupid boarders,” Kathryn huffed angrily. “You said you would stay out of my hair. Well, this isn’t it!”

“I said I was sorry!”

Now Emma started to get agitated as well. What more did she want? She said she was sorry!

“Next time I won’t hesitate and kick you out,” Kathryn threatened as she stepped into Emma’s personal space.

Emma backed away, holding up her hands. “It won’t happen again,” she promised.

“You bet,” Kathryn snarled.

The skater abruptly turned away. She grabbed some of her stuff together to hit the shower and made her way to the bathroom.

“Ruby was right, you do need a good fuck,” Emma mumbled as she grabbed her phone and plopped on her bed.

Kathryn turned on her heels, her cheeks red with angry. “What did you say?” she seethed.

Emma looked up from her phone, her face as hard as stone. “That you need a good fuck. Maybe that’ll loosen you up,” she said aloud.

“That is IT!” Kathryn screeched and stomped out of the room.

“Good luck with that!” Emma called after her.

Emma lay down on her bed, smirking. She knew she shouldn’t have done it, but boy did it feel good. However, her conscience caught up with her and she realized she had gone too far. She jumped to her feet and raced after the upset skater. She found the blonde in the lobby, making her way to the front desk.

“Kathryn, wait,” she called after Kathryn.

Kathryn whirled around, her anger still palpable.

“No, I’ve had enough,” she hissed.

“Listen, it was childish of me to say that and I know I promised to stay out of your hair. I’m truly sorry,” Emma pleaded. Kathryn seemed to deflate a bit and Emma pulled her to the side. “I promise it won’t happen again,” Emma added.

Kathryn squinted, as if considering her. “Okay, fine,” the skater gave in. “And I may have overreacted a bit, so I am sorry too, I suppose. But, next time I won’t hesitate to throw you out for real,” Kathryn warned her.

“Dully noted. Can I buy you a cup of coffee to make it up?” Emma asked.

“Tea will do just fine,” Kathryn replied, already walking towards the little restaurant next to the check-in desk.

Emma followed her, shaking her head. Even though Kathryn had spared her, she remained a stuck up bitch.

 

**9 th February 19:30, PyeongChang**

Nervously, Emma stood waiting in the hall with her team. It was half an hour before the opening ceremony would start and the stadium sounded like it was full to the rafters. They were all dressed in their official opening ceremony outfits, consisting of a blue wool hat, brown gloves with the Olympic rings sewn on them, a blue sweater with white and red imprint and a red-white-blue bomber jacket. It all got complete with mountaineering brown boots with red lace. Emma liked this outfit better than her snowboarding outfit, although that outfit had started to grow on her. Gideon had shot a picture of the entire snowboarding team after practice and they all looked like spacewalkers, which Emma considered to be pretty cool. Ruby and Neal had ridiculed the outfits, but Emma had decided she liked it and was proud to wear it.

“Hey.”

Emma looked up at the sound of a soft voice next to her. Surprised she found none other than Regina Mills.

“Hey,” Emma replied.

Regina looked around them and pulled Emma with her down the tunnel until the noise from the tribunes had faded enough to have a normal conversation.

“I need to apologize to you about this morning. For being a ‘stuck up bitch’,” Regina started, looking at Emma intently.

“Shit, you heard that?” Emma bit her lip.

Regina seemed to hesitated before she smiled and nodded. “Yes. You… you were defending me and that was very sweet. Daniel can be a bit… overprotective at times,” Regina said, her voice calculating.

“You’re welcome. Apology accepted,” Emma said. “I ran into Daniel when I first got here. Tell me if I’m crossing a line, but he’s kind of a dick,” Emma added, not sure if this comment would earn her a black eye.

Surprisingly, Regina burst out laughing. Emma was surprised to find that she liked Regina’s laugh. It was full and rich and seemed to come from her toes. Right then and there, Emma decided she wanted to hear more of Regina’s laugh. No, scratch that. She wanted more of Regina. She had seen her perform in public on and off the ice and the brunette had always come across so regal and cold. Nothing like the woman that was standing across from her, with twinkling eyes and little laughter lines around them.

“Yes, he can be,” Regina replied and shook her head slightly. “Anyway, I wanted to wish you good luck these Games. You deserve it,” she added just before she walked off.

“Thanks, you too!” Emma called after her, but Regina had already disappeared in the crowd.

Emma scratched her head, what the hell was that? Did she really just have a real conversation with Regina ‘Evil Queen’ Mills? And how could she do it again?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo sorry for the long wait! I hope to be able to update reguraly now, as I finished the story.  
> Anyhow, enjoy the new chapter! (And I love all of your reviews and kudo's, thank you all for them!)

**February 9 th– PyeongChang, 22:05**

Emma didn’t have to wait long before she saw Regina again. Together with her team, she shuffled out of the stadium, glowing and fuzzy from the opening. It had been truly amazing; the Koreans had really outdone themselves. The 1,218 drones that firstly formed a snowboarder and later on had pictured the five Olympic rings had impressed her most. The Games really had started now and she was excited to show what she could do.

“Enjoyed yourself?” a soft voice beside her suddenly asked.

She looked up and found two deep brown eyes looking questioningly at her.

“Yes, it was so awesome. Did you enjoy it?” Emma asked.

Regina ducked her head and pulled her once again out of the stream of people that were passing them. “Yeah, I did. Henry would have loved being here,” Regina replied, dreamingly looking back at the stadium.

“Who is Henry?” Emma questioned.

Regina looked back at Emma, her eyes widening and her mouth shaping into an o. “Oops. Uhm, that’s my son,” Regina said, ducking her head down shyly.

“You have a son? Cool. Is he here?” Emma asked curious.

“No, he’s back home with my mom. He’s too young to join me on my tours,” Regina smiled softly, clearly relieved by Emma’s response.

“How old is he?”

“He’s turning 7 next month,” Regina replied, her posture straightened a bit.

“7 is a cool age. You get to play all day and not to worry about stupid adult stuff,” Emma smirked.

She pulled Regina along with her, the stadium started to be deserted and the staff were looking weirdly at them. Regina nodded solemnly and walked along with Emma.

“Yet I wish he was here,” Regina sighed longingly.

“I can understand that. You must miss him,” Emma noted, looking at the woman next to her.

“Yes. But we talk, over Skype. And he watches all my routines,” Regina smiled and Emma thought she might be seeing things, but Regina seemed to glow a bit when she talked about her son. “He also watches snowboarding and is begging me for a board,” Regina groaned a little bit later.

Emma laughed whole-heartedly and shook her head at the shocked look on Regina’s face. “So no figure skating for him?”

“No. He kicks and screams whenever I pull him onto the ice. So, I don’t think so,” Regina chuckled.

For a moment Emma just stared in amazement at the woman next to her. They had just met properly this morning and she was already trusting Emma with a piece of private information. Emma knew Regina didn’t step into the public eye very often and she doubted any of her fans knew she had a six year old son. Emma realized she felt honored that Regina trusted her.

“So is he getting a board for his birthday?” Emma asked curiously.

“Not before he has some lessons,” Regina replied sternly.

“If only you knew a snowboarder who could teach him, huh?” Emma smirked, giving Regina’s shoulder a gentle push.

Regina looked up at her, her eyes full of wonder. “You want to teach him?” she asked incredulous.

“Sure, I teach kids all the time.”

Regina looked up at her, biting down on her lower lip and glistening eyes. “Henry is going to flip when I tell him. You’re kind of his hero,” she said in Emma’s neck.

“Regina! There you are!” a loud voice boomed over the square.

As if hit by lighting, Regina looked up and Emma could swear she heard Regina mumbling ‘Shit’. With big, self-confident steps, Daniel walked towards them.

“Hey,” Regina said as her regal posture slid in place and walked up to Daniel. “I lost you out there,” she said to him. “But I was in good hands,” she added as she waved vaguely towards Emma.

“Okay.” He frowned as he quickly looked at Emma, who suddenly didn’t know what to do with her arms and settled on crossing them. He quirked an eyebrow and looked back at Regina. “Let me escort you to your room, it’s getting late,” he said sternly and gave Emma a dark, arrogant look as he wrapped an arm around Regina’s shoulder.

Regina immediately shrugged off his arm and turned around to face Emma.

“Thanks for keeping me company. We’ll get in touch later to sort out the details, okay?” she proposed.

“Yeah, good idea,” Emma replied.

“Great. Good night, miss Swan.”

With that, Regina turned around and marched away, Daniel in tow. Emma just stared at them and regretted their conversation had been cut short, she had loved to talk more to the regal skater who wasn’t so regal after all. Stupid Daniel just had to show up again, hadn’t he? Emma watched as they disappeared behind a building and decided to find the rest of her team, the night was young after all. Yet all she could think about all night was how Regina had felt in her arms and vowed to herself she would do anything to hold Regina again…

 

**February 10 th– PyeongChang, 07.30**

Loud swearing woke Emma up. Groaning, she opened her eyes and saw that the room was barely lit. With an half eye open, she glanced at the clock and groaned again. She hadn’t slept the recommended eight hours and was regretting it already. In a few hours, she was supposed to stand on a snowboard and was expected to do so with her eyes open.

“Fuck!”

Emma turned her head towards the swearing, only to find Kathryn running around the room clearly looking for something.

“Didn’t know you were able to swear,” Emma yawned and sat up.

Kathryn came to a sudden halt at Emma’s voice and stared daggers at her.

“Very funny,” she snarled.

“Sorry,” Emma said and rubbed her eyes. There was no point in going back to sleep, she had to be up in half an hour anyway. “What’s got your panties in a bunch?” she asked as she swung her legs from under the covers.

“I’m late and I can’t find my other shoe,” Kathryn snapped, going over to the same spot she had looked at at least five times.

Emma looked around and found said shoe peaking from underneath her bed. Emma grabbed it and held it up.

“Found it.”

The blonde skater looked up bewildered, seeing Emma holding it up with a little smirk. “How did it get there?” she asked as she snatched it out of Emma’s hand.

“Don’t know,” Emma shrugged and watched as Kathryn forced her foot in it.

“What time did you get in?” Kathryn asked. “I never heard you coming back.”

Emma glanced at the clock. “Around 12, I guess. Don’t know exactly.”

“Around 12? The Ceremony was over by 10. What were you doing?” Kathryn inquired, her voice on the edge of outrage.

“I went to the pub with my team, _mom_ ,” Emma replied, stifling another yawn.

“To the pub? And your coach let you?” Kathryn asked surprised.

“What he doesn’t know won’t kill him,” Emma smirked. “Hey, weren’t you running late?” she added questioning.

“Oh fuck. Yes,” Kathryn swore and grabbed her bag. “Try not to let any _strays_ in,” she said dryly before she stormed out of the room.

“Aye ma’am,” Emma replied chuckling.

She didn’t know why, but she kind of liked pushing Kathryn to the edge. The blonde would bite so nicely to every little joke. She knew it wasn’t nice, but Kathryn was blatantly being a bitch, so Emma figured she'd earned herself a little revenge.

Leisurely she got ready for her day's practice and let her mind wander back to last night. She needed to figure out a way to see Regina again. She needed to know if the connection she felt was because of the euphoric feeling that the Ceremony had infused her with or something else. While she brushed her hair, her eye caught Kathryn’s binder. She knew Kathryn kept her training schedule in it, perhaps she could track Regina down that way. Without a second thought, she grabbed the binder and opened it.

_08:00 – Team meeting (Gangneung)_

_08:15 – Breakfast_

_08:45 – Training individuals (hall 5 and 6)_

_08:45 – Training pairs (hall 3 and 4)_

Bingo! Regina would be training today. The only bummer was that Emma had an early practice herself around the same time and it was all the way at the other end of the venues. She skimmed the page further and saw Regina had another practice around 3pm. She could make that work; she should be back by then. She did have a team meeting, but not until later. Nodding to herself, Emma placed the binder back where she had found it. This afternoon she would see Regina again. Giddy with that knowledge, she grabbed her bag and left the room, closing the door behind her.

 

**February 10 th– Bokwang Phoenix Park, 13.25**

Tired and cold to her bones, Emma made her way back to the van. Practice had been brutal, Gideon had her do a new run, which she would do during her run for the medal. It was a tricky one and the skills level was high. Tonight she should go over the run again on paper, see if she could perfect it. Gideon had given her free reign in that department, on the terms that he and Gold had the final decision. Emma had agreed, it was how they always used to work. In her mind, she was still running through her practice when Ruby appeared next to her.

“How did it go?” Ruby asked.

This was another part Emma missed about not training for half pipe. She didn’t get to practice with Ruby and she missed the crazy girl. Ruby was wickedly talented and Emma liked to watch her doing her thing. Every now and then, she could give Ruby some pointers and vice versa.

“Good. It’s going to be tough, though,” she said, thoughtful.

“You’re going to nail it. If you want, I can help you go over it?” Ruby offered.

Emma nodded, that would be a good idea. Two people saw more than one and she had always appreciated Ruby’s insights. It was why she liked working with Ruby so much, the girl had an active imagination and cooked up the most insane tricks and jumps. She needed that input if she wanted to win.

“Yeah, good idea. How about after dinner?” she suggested.

“It’s a date,” Ruby grinned a toothy grin. Emma shook her head, Ruby always managed to turn a conversation racy. “Hey, did I see you talk to Regina Mills last night?” Ruby suddenly asked.

“Uh, yeah. She wanted to thank me for my help the other day,” Emma replied, a bit too honest.

“So she does have a heart,” Ruby noted as she climbed into the van.

“Apparently,” Emma shrugged and followed Ruby, hoping the conversation about Regina was done.

“You looked all lovey-dovey afterwards.”

Apparently not.

“No, I did not,” Emma protested and shoved Ruby lightly.

“You so did!” Ruby shoved back and a little girl fight ensued. “But seriously though, don’t burn your hands on that one,” Ruby continued as they calmed down.

“I’m not going to do anything,” Emma objected.

“I’ve seen that look before, Ems. Remember Lacey? The same look,” Ruby pointed out.

Lacey had been one of her first hook ups after she had realized she was gay. The older woman had her completely wrapped around her finger and Emma had enjoyed every minute of the attention Lacey had given her. Even tough people had warned her about Lacey’s reputation, which wasn’t good, Emma had pursued her and eventually Lacey had broken her heart in a million pieces. Emma had learnt from it though and had moved on. But she hadn’t been looking at Regina like that, right? Yes, Regina had impressed her with her softer, kinder side, but that was all it was, right? Deep down Emma knew it hadn’t been all it was, she had never felt such an attraction to another woman. She didn’t know if it was possible in such a short moment, but she had felt it for sure. Somehow the skater had some kind of spell over her, like magic.

Shit, she was in trouble.

“So, what if I go after her?” Emma inquired, mildly curious about the reply.

“Just don’t. She’s not worth your trouble, she’s just another stuck up bitchy skater,” Ruby answered, giving Emma a warning look.

Except, Regina wasn’t. Emma knew it, Regina had been so different from that regal and closed off demeanor she showed to the rest of the world. And this afternoon she would find out if she had been right about the skater.

Emma glanced at her watch and saw she still had time to make it to Gangneung. With some help from someone from the staff she had gotten her hands on a bike and she planned to go as soon as she had ditched Ruby. Thinking about Regina again made butterflies appear in her stomach and made her nervous at the same time. What if she was all wrong about this and it had all been in her head? What if Regina really hadn’t been that nice and kind? Had it been a dream?

“Swan! We’re here.”

Ruby’s arm connected quite forcefully with her head and Emma blinked. Indeed, they had arrived back at the apartments in PyeongChang. She scrambled out of the van and grabbed her bag out from the back.

“Fell asleep back there, Swan? Not used to staying up late?” Killian fake pouted in front of her face.

“Oh, go fuck yourself, Jones,” Emma said, not in the mood for his annoying attitude.

“Very mature, Swan,” Gold reprimanded. “You were sloppy today. Are you all right? Is it your wrist?” he asked as he led out the group.

“No, my wrist is fine. I indulged a bit last night after the Ceremony. Tonight it will be an early night,” Emma promised.

“All right, that’s understandable. I think we all did a little. Something else, Swan,” he said thoughtfully. “I saw you talking to Regina Mills last night. Do I need to worry?” he asked, his eyebrows knitted together in worry.

Emma groaned internally, why was everyone on her back about Regina? Why couldn’t they just have a conversation without everyone judging?

“No, coach. I’m here to win and nothing else,” she replied.

“I didn’t expect anything else from you, Swan,” he said before patting her on the shoulder and walking away.

Emma hoisted her bag to her back and walked into the lobby. Luckily, Ruby had already left to her room, so Emma only had to drop her bag off at her own room. Luckily, the elevator ride was quick and smooth and soon she stepped into the silent comfort of her suite. Sliding her bag off her back to the ground, she allowed herself a few minutes of rest. Almost immediately, Regina popped up in her head, as she had done on multiple occasions in the past 24 hours. Emma smiled at the thought of seeing the skater soon again. She grabbed her woolen hat and gloves and left the room again, not noticing that Kathryn’s side had been cleaned out…

 

**February 10 th– Gangneun, 14:55**

The ride to Gangneun had been beautiful and Emma had been tempted to stop multiple times. But as she was on the clock and wanted to be at the Gangneun Ice Arena at exactly 3 P.M, she resisted the urge to stop. So now, she found herself next to the Ice Arena and parked her bike. Briskly and without a hesitation in her step, she walked towards the entrance where a member of the staff halted her.

“Name and discipline,” he asked.

“Emma Swan, figure skating,” she said confidently as she quickly showed her badge.

She prayed he wouldn’t look too close and after a few terrifying seconds he let her pass. Relieved, she continued walking and sped towards the hall where Regina and Daniel would be. She sneaked into the hall and found an entire empty ice rink, except for the two ice dancers on the ice. There was no music playing, but the pair was gliding through the routine on music apparently only they could hear. Emma quickly found a seat.

Down at the border of the ice she spotted Regina’s coach, Victoria Belfrey. The woman had an even more regal posture then Regina had, and Emma was scared that if she straightened her back an inch more, it would break. Luckily, Belfrey stood with her back to Emma, so for now she was in the clear.

She focused her attention back to the pair on the ice. Emma watched, as they got ready for a spin. Daniel held Regina around her waist as he lifted her up and threw her up in the air where Regina made a perfect double spin before he caught her and lowered her towards the ice. It immediately was followed by a synchronized jump and spin. Regina reached for Daniel’s hand and they skated backwards around the rink, doing some simple dance movements before starting their final element, a double Lutz. They performed it perfectly and gasping for air, they ended their routine. Regina hugged Daniel and whispered something in his ear before skating of to the border. Daniel followed her, but Belfrey called him over and started showing him something on her clipboard. Regina was now standing alone at the border, drinking some much-needed water. Emma saw her chance and sneaked down. She approached Regina, but Regina didn’t look up. Emma frowned and walked closer.

“Hey,” she said as she softly touched Regina’s arm.

Regina jumped slightly and looked at Emma with wide-open eyes. “Emma?” she hissed.

“Hi.”

Regina skated a few paces to the side, so they were out of earshot of Victoria and Daniel. “What are you doing here?” she asked urgently.

“Wanted to see you and I knew you would be here,” Emma told her, a small smile played around her mouth.

“I… I am training, Emma. You cannot just sneak in here,” Regina replied astonished.

“I know… Sorry, maybe this was stupid,” Emma said, suddenly realizing what she actually had done.

She started to walk away when Regina reached for her wrist. A spark ran through Emma’s arm to her spine, making her all warm and full of electricity.

“It’s not stupid,” Regina said softly as she pulled Emma gently towards her. “But you can’t stay, Belfrey will have you suspended. Meet me at hall 7 in a hour, yes?” Regina asked, eyeing her coach’s back, she appeared to be still talking with Daniel. 

Surprised Emma looked up and nodded dumbfounded. Of course she would meet her! “Just don’t let Belfrey see you,” Regina warned as she looked at her coach.

“Okay,” Emma replied.

Regina’s face suddenly lit up in the most gorgeous smile Emma had ever seen and skated off. Emma watched her skate graciously over the ice and Emma had to force herself to turn around and walk away. On top of the stairs, she turned around and saw Regina was skating full speed around the rink, switching back and forth every now and then. With a huge smile on her face, Emma finally left the rink, knowing she would have Regina all alone in an hour.

 

**February 10 th– Gangneun, 16.04**

For the past hour Emma had visited the various venues at Gangneun and decided she would try to catch at least a few games here. South Korea had really outdone themselves; the venues were astonishing. The buildings were majestic and once again, Emma had to pinch herself, she was really, really here. She had worked so hard the past four years to be here and now that she was finally here, she could hardly believe it.

The hour had gone by way too slowly and Emma had been in hall 7 way too early. When she entered, the ice rink was completely dark.  Sitting on one of the hard stools in the stadium the nerves had gotten to her. She would be all alone with Regina and she prayed she wouldn’t mess this up. She suspected Regina didn’t invite anyone to meet up just like that. This morning she had done some research in the van on her way to practice, but not much had come up. Of course, all of her championships and medals she had won had popped up, but nothing about Regina personally. It looked like she had stayed out of the press and hadn’t even given that many interviews. The ones she had done had always been with Daniel and he was the one who had talked the most. After intensive searching, Emma had found a really old interview in a magazine. Regina had been at the start of her career and had been a nobody then. In the interview, she had talked about her dreams and goals, already talking about reaching the Olympics one day. Regina had been open and loose during the interview and Emma had wondered what had happened for her to become so regal and closed off to the world.

Suddenly a single spotlight went on and ‘A Million Dreams’ from The Greatest Showman started playing. Emma rose to her feet as Regina skated onto the ice. As in a dream, Emma descended the stairs and ended up at the borders. Regina skated towards her and invited her on the ice. She whirled around Emma and made various jumps, while Emma tried to keep her balance on the slippery ice. Regina smirked at seeing the poor balance Emma had even without skates. The song ended and Regina came to a sharp stop in front of Emma.

“I don’t understand how you keep standing on that board of yours,” she smirked.

“Snow is a lot less slippery,” Emma replied smartly as she made her way back towards the border.

Regina laughed aloud and again it sounded so sparkly and joyous. She helped Emma off the ice and stepped off it herself. She plopped down on a bench and started to untie her skates. Emma just stood there, trying to figure out a way to start the conversation. Asking about her practice would be lame, right? Then what the hell was she supposed to say? ‘Cool meeting in an empty ice rink’?

“Thanks for meeting me here,” Regina said as she looked up at Emma.

Now that it was silent around them and no other distractions, Emma noticed again that Regina’s speech was slightly off. She had heard someone talk exactly the same way, but she couldn’t remember why or who it was.

“Couldn’t say no now, right?” Emma smirked as she sat down as well. “Do you bring all your dates to a deserted ice rink?” she asked teasingly.

“Yeah. That way no one will hear their screams when I murder them,” Regina deadpanned and burst out laughing at Emma’s shocked face.

“Well, at least I’ve seen the Olympics. But I’d rather have you kill me _after_ I won a gold medal,” Emma quickly replied wittingly.

“Can’t do that, I’m afraid. Now I can’t ever lure you in my trap,” Regina smirked as she laid aside her skates. “But seriously, thanks for meeting me here,” she added more serious.

“Anytime. You made me curious,” Emma smirked.

Regina looked at her curiously, which made Emma even more nervous. She was really alone with Regina and in approximately reaching distance. Emma had always had a way with women and managed to charm them in no time. Regina however played on a completely different level and Emma sensed she couldn’t charm the skater that easily.

“Why did you come to my practice?” Regina asked softly.

“I…” Emma started. How could she explained this without coming across as a stalker? “I wanted to see you after the Ceremony and I didn’t know any other way to meet you. I saw when and where you were training in Kathryn’s training schedule,” she finally rambled.

Regina shook her head. “I told that woman to be more organized,” she huffed.

“No, no, no, no. It’s not her fault, I snooped through her binder. I know where she keeps it,” Emma jumped up quickly, not wanting to create another reason for her roommate to be cross with her.

“So you were stalking me?” Regina noted dryly.

Emma sunk back on the bench, ashamed. “If you put it like that… Yes. I’m sorry. I know you are protective about your private life. I had no business interfering,” Emma backed off.

“Yes, yes, I am. And with reason,” Regina replied coldly. “So if you are a groupie or something, then it’s better if you go,” she said as she stood up.

“I’m not,” Emma protested, rising to her feet as well.

“Then why did you sneak into a secure building if you are not?” the skater asked sharply.

“Because… Because I thought… I felt we had a connection at the Ceremony,” Emma exclaimed.

Regina chuckled and shook her head. “All I did was say thank you. How can you think we have a connection? 

Emma swallowed thickly; clearly, she had been wrong about this. Ruby had been right about warning her and Gold had been right about being worried. Regina was nothing more than a cold-hearted bitch and Emma had clearly read her wrong during the Ceremony. Perhaps the euphoria had risen to her head or something. Shaking her head, Emma walked up the stairs but turned around half way.

“Then why did you invite me here?” she asked.

“What?” Regina looked up, confused.

Emma bit her lip and took a few steps down. “Why did you ask me to come here?” she repeated her question.

The question clearly confused Regina as she was for loss of words. Emma nodded disappointed; she knew all she needed to know. Regina obviously hadn’t felt the same as Emma that night and didn’t want to get to know her. Emma walked up the stairs and almost reached the top of the stairs when Regina spoke up again.

“Because I felt it too.”

At that, Emma turned around. So she wasn’t going crazy? There was something happening between them? Emma looked down at the lone, hunched over figure on the bench. She looked so lonely. Emma swallowed; the lump in her throat didn’t seem to go away.

“You did?”

Regina looked up, but didn’t reply to her question. “Can you come down?” she asked instead.

Surprised at the requested, Emma descended the stairs again. If coach knew how much stairs she had walked tonight, he would be proud at her. She smirked at the thought and came to a halt in front of Regina.

“I… I couldn’t hear what you said up there,” Regina said, her voice sounded suddenly very small. “I…” Her voice stocked and she drew a shuddering breath. Emma reached for her shoulder and placed softly her hand on it, squeezing it gently. Regina looked up at Emma, a lone tear glided down her cheek. “I’m deaf.”


	5. Chapter 5

“You’re deaf?” Emma exclaimed surprised.

Emma watched as Regina’s posture went stiff. “I…I should not have told you. I hardly know you,” she mumbled. 

Regina scrambled to get her skates and was about to leave when Emma grabbed her arm.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. You haven’t told anyone outside your circle before, have you?” Emma asked quietly.

“No. And I shouldn’t have told you,” Regina replied harshly, pulling herself out of Emma’s grasp.

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Emma promised.

“And I’m just going to have to trust you?” The skater spat.

“I suppose you will,” Emma replied, she started to be fed up with the brunette. 

Regina glanced up at her with a doubting look. Then she shook her head and the ice queen’s mask slid over her face, her eyes harsh and cold. Without giving Emma another look, she walked away with measured steps over the ice. Emma looked at her and was about to leave when Regina stopped walking and turned around. Never in her entire life had Emma seen such a lonely person as Regina. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were intensely sad. Without even thinking about it, Emma stepped on the ice and glided over to Regina. A couple of times she almost lost her balance but managed to stay upright. Regina giggled at Emma’s poor attempt of crossing the ice, which only encouraged Emma even more. Finally, she stood before Regina and Emma took the skater’s face in her hands.

“I would never do that to you,” she said slowly.

A single tear escaped Regina’s eye as she glanced up at Emma. Emma thought that the woman in front of her was the most gorgeous creature she ever laid eyes on. Without second-guessing, Emma closed the space between them and brought her lips to Regina’s plump ones. As soon as they touched, Emma thought she had died and gone to heaven. Regina tasted amazing, like cinnamon and a hint of vanilla. Out of the blue, the contact was gone and she was flying through the air until her butt impacted on the cold, hard ice beneath her.

“What are you doing?” Regina screeched. “What gave you the impression I’m a dirty dyke?”

Emma scrambled to her feet but failed miserably on the slippery ice. On her knees, she looked up at Regina, completely shocked and confused.

“Regina, I’m-” she started.

“Don’t you ever dare to touch me again or you’ll lose a limb or two,” Regina interrupted her threatening. 

The brunette turned on her heels and stormed off the ice, leaving a stunned Emma behind…

 

**February 10th– PyeongChang, 18.30**

With a splitting headache, Emma walked out of the team meeting. Gold had just told them it would be uncertain if the slopestyle qualification would start because of the predicted wind. With her phone in her hand, she walked out onto the foyer and toward the elevator. She never made it to the elevator as Ruby pulled her aside.

“Where the hell were you?” Ruby hissed.

Emma looked up, distraught, from her phone. Her mind hadn’t only been on her event tomorrow, but also on the mindfuck that Regina gave her. Her ass still hurt from the impact on the ice, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her chest. Every time she thought about Regina, her heart clenched painfully together. She didn’t understand it one bit, she really thought Regina had felt the same. For a second or so, it had seemed Regina had even kissed back! Emma really felt confused and to be honest, pretty pissed off. In her life she had been abandoned so much, she thought she was used to it. But this rejection hurt like a bitch and she just couldn’t shake the feeling. 

“Hey!”

Ruby snapped her fingers in front of Emma’s face and Emma startled out of her thoughts.

“Sorry. I was…out,” Emma replied, not really sure if she would tell Ruby the truth.

She knew what Ruby thought about Regina and she wasn’t sure how she felt about Regina. She still believed there was some sort of connection between them, but perhaps it had all been in her head.

“Out where?” Ruby inquired.

Emma looked up, still hesitating. “Regina,” she deflated.

“Regina Mills??” Ruby’s voice sounded disbelieving and her eyes were as big as sausages.

“Yes.” Emma sighed and shook her head. 

“What the hell were you doing with her?” Ruby questioned, her tone slightly angry.

Emma took a deep breath and looked at her friend. She had known Ruby half her life and had never kept a secret. Before she could change her mind, she started talking. She told Ruby about their first meeting in the cafeteria and about their conversation at the Ceremony. She didn’t mention the fact that Regina was deaf, wanting to keep her promise. Last but not least, she told about their secret meeting earlier that afternoon and about how Regina had abandoned her.

“That bitch,” Ruby hissed, her hands balled into a fist.

“She’s no bitch,” Emma said, shaking her head.

“She is in my book! How dare she leave you like that!” Ruby looked ready to commit a murder and quickly, Emma grabbed her arm.

“I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t want to think about it. I need to focus on tomorrow and this isn’t helping,” Emma groaned, her headache grew worse.

“How about we go over your run one more time?” Ruby suggested.

Emma nodded, that might help to take her mind off things. Together they got on the elevator and Emma leaned exhausted against the wall.

“You really kissed her?” Ruby inquired.

“Yes, until she pushed me to the ice,” Emma replied with closed eyes.

It felt like her mind was exploding the more she thought about the situation. She shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. The skater had made an impact on her. 

“I warned you, Swan,” Ruby said from across the car.

“I know. Coach did as well,” Emma chuckled and opened her eyes. 

“Why are you being so damn stubborn?” Ruby questioned, shaking her head slightly.

“Because it’s my middle name,” Emma grinned and veered off the wall when the elevator dinged.

Ruby followed her to her room and Emma mindlessly swiped her card. Emma walked into the room without looking up. Ruby followed her and frowned.

“Where’s your roommate?” she asked as she looked the completely empty bed.

“Probably at practice,” Emma replied as she sunk into the chair near the window.

The strength of the wind was worrying her, it seemed it only started to blow even harder out there. During practice she already had some trouble with the wind, almost blowing her out of her spins. She wondered what would happen if, worst case scenario, qualifications were canceled. Would that automatically qualify her for the finals? She sighed, this was a nightmare.

“I don’t think so. Unless she usually takes all of her stuff with her,” Ruby remarked, still staring at the bed next to Emma’s.

Now Emma looked up and saw that all of Kathryn’s stuff was gone. “Uh,” Emma said as she stood up and walked over to Ruby. “Good question.”

“What did you do to her?” Ruby questioned, squinting at Emma.

Emma held up her hands defensively and shook her head. “No fucking clue,” she replied.

Kathryn disappearing worried her a bit, what had she ever done to the skater? Apart from their bickering from the start, Emma really couldn’t come up with something. Shaking her head, she sat back down in the chair, she would try to find Kathryn later to see if they could makeup or something. Ruby had plopped down on the ground, already having a sketchbook on her lap. Thoughtfully, she looked outside over the mountains.

“I remember reading something about Kathryn and I think a snowboarder, but I can’t remember it. Have to look it up,” she pondered out loud as if this was their biggest problem.

“Uh, Red?” Emma asked, making Ruby look at her. “How about we concentrate on tomorrow?” she smirked.

“Oh, yeah! Of course! Sorry, you know how curious I can be,” Ruby replied sheepishly. Emma moved from the chair next to Ruby as the snowboarder started to sketch. “What I think you should do is ‘borrow’ some tricks from the halfpipe,” Ruby started.

Emma nodded and for the next hour, they were working on Emma’s run. In the end, Emma nodded approvingly at the sketches, she would borrow at least two tricks from the halfpipe and Ruby had tweaked her other tricks to bring up her skills level.

“This looks like gold, Red,” Emma said as she spread out the sketches over the floor.

“You think you can pull it off?” Ruby questioned, looking at her friend worrying.

Emma nodded as she glanced at the tricks. She knew how to do them, she just needed to accelerate to gain more speed and jump higher then she had done in training. She would have to go down bolder then she had ever dared on slopestyle, but now was the time to show what she got. 

“Yes, definitely. I’ll run them by Gold first, but this is it, Red. This is going to be mine,” Emma beamed. 

“Good. Then my work isn’t for nothing,” Ruby grinned. “You know, I could have shagged my roommate some more, but hey, bro’s before ho’s!” 

Emma shook her head as she gathered the sketches.

“You’re the worst,” she smirked.

“But you love me!” Ruby gushed happily.

“That I do,” Emma smirked. “Now, go shag your roommate before she develops abandonment issues,” she joked.

Ruby jumped up and walked to the door. There she looked back at Emma who still sat on the floor, suddenly a serious look on her face.

“Hey.”

Emma turned to face her.

“Yeah?”

“You’ll do awesome tomorrow because you’re badass,” Ruby stated.

“Thanks, Red.”

Emma stood and walked over to give her friend a bear hug. Ruby returned it and then slipped out of the room. 

Emma smiled, she really loved Ruby. The girl was more often than not a goofball, but she had her heart in the right place. Emma moved to her bed and lay down. She glanced at the empty bed next to hers and wondered why Kathryn had decided to just leave. Emma assumed she had traded places with someone else from her team, but thus far no one had shown up. 

Thinking about Kathryn almost immediately catapulted her thoughts back to Regina. Regina’s outburst still didn’t make sense, except if it all really had just been in her own head. Had she read the signals wrong? Was Regina just being friendly? Emma didn’t even know if Regina was gay. As if shot by lighting, Emma sat bolt upright in her bed. Regina has a son. Of course she’s not gay. How stupid could she have been? She had made the classic mistake every lesbian made at least once in their lives, fall for a straight girl. Had her gaydar been broken these past few days? But more importantly, what must Regina be thinking now? Emma shook her head and stepped off the bed. This was only getting her more worked up, she needed to forget Regina. But how? Emma had never crushed this hard for anyone and that was saying something. Her past with all the different foster homes and families had made it hard for her to open herself up to people. She had done so with Regina and even though she had thought Regina had felt the same, her heart had been broken nonetheless. 

Trying to distract herself, Emma started doing some relaxation yoga exercises, but Regina kept haunting her mind. She really couldn’t believe it was only her who had felt a connection. Replaying the conversation in the abandoned ice rink, Emma suddenly remembered Regina saying she had felt the connection between them too. But had she felt a romantic connection or just a friendly one? Out of frustration, Emma groaned, this wasn’t helping. On the table, she spotted the sketches and after glancing at her watch, she decided to go see the coach and show him what she and Ruby had worked on. Her mind made up, she grabbed the sketches and walked out of the room…

 

**February 10th– PyeongChang, 21.20**

With her mood lifted considerably, Emma walked back to her room. Gold had been happy with the new game plan, especially after seeing the sketches. He had assured Emma she could do it, even saying he had seen her doing much crazier stuff than this. For the first time since she had arrived here, Emma felt confident in getting a medal. Walking to her room, she patted her pockets in search of her door pass and cursed. She had left her pass on the table. Against her better judgment, she walked up to her room and knocked. When she had left, the bed next to her was still unoccupied and if that was still the case, she had to go downstairs and ask if the staff could open her door. Suddenly the door flew open and a woman with wild curly red hear stood before her.

“You must be my roommate,” she said enthusiastically. “I’m Zelena Mills.”

Emma blinked. Why was faith so cruel to her? Of all the people she could bunk with, it had to be Regina’s younger sister. 

“Hi. I’m Emma,” Emma replied, trying to be welcoming.

“I know! You totally rock!” Zelena gushed.

“Thanks,” Emma chuckled.

As she stepped into the room, she saw it had somewhat exploded. Zelena had just dropped her stuff everywhere and for a moment Emma scratched her head. This would be an entirely different challenge than with Kathryn. Where the blonde skater had been meticulously organized, Zelena seemed to be chaotic at best. 

“Sorry for the mess. I just got here and had to go practice immediately after dinner. I was in the middle of cleaning,” Zelena said, smirking awkwardly.

“No stress,” Emma reassured her and chuckled.

The difference between Zelena and Regina couldn’t be bigger. Zelena was outgoing and a chatterbox, where Regina was closed off and introverted. Emma wondered how that happened and figured it might have something to do with Regina being deaf. Emma was still curious how the skater had pulled it off to compete at such a world level and being deaf. From what she had assessed, Regina had a hard time hearing softer sounds and Emma thought that while having a conversation Regina mostly read lips. But she must be hearing some things, otherwise, there was no chance in hell she could have hidden it for so long. Shaking her head mentally, Emma banned Regina from her mind. She needed to forget about the skater for her own sanity.

“So, are you enjoying the Games?” Zelena asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Yes. It’s so much more then I had anticipated,” Emma replied and sat down on her bed.

“Right??” Zelena burst and told Emma all about what she had done ever since she was here. 

Emma listened and told a bit about herself and what she had been up to. Zelena had been ecstatic when Emma had described the view in the mountains and Zelena had complained about how all the ice rinks looked the same.

“Why don’t you come up to the mountains with me whenever we have a free moment? I can lend you a snowboard,” Emma offered. 

“Cool! Yeah, let’s do that!” Zelena exclaimed. 

Emma smirked and while they talked more about what they were expecting from the coming days, Emma made herself ready to have an early night. She helped Zelena tidy the place up a bit and, exhausted, slipped under the covers. Zelena joined her in an early night and Emma switched off the last light.

“I’m glad to have you as my roommate,” Zelena mumbled, just before she slipped into the dream world.

“Me too,” Emma replied.

Emma closed her eyes and felt her body relax. Yet her mind was anything but relaxed and her dreams were haunted by snowboarders blown out of the sky and deep brown lonely eyes…

 

**February 11th– Bokwang Phoenix Park , 12.00**

Nervously, Emma watched the last snowboarder go down the course. The man’s slopestyle qualifications had been a messy one. The wind had become stronger overnight and Emma hadn’t thought it wise of the committee to approve these qualifications. Even though she really wanted to do the qualification and place herself properly for the final, this was just irresponsible. Together with the other woman snowboarders she had watched the men’s qualification and talked to a few of the men and they all had said the same. The wind was treacherous and it was almost dangerous to go down. She had seen many falls, a few of them were really nasty and hard. 

“What do you think?” 

Emma looked up and found Lindsey Vonn standing next to her. People often asked if they were twins and Emma had always laughed it off. But, she had to be honest, they did look alike. Emma had run into Lindsey quite a couple of times during the season and liked her. She was down to earth and really cool. 

“I think that one of us is going to break their neck,” Emma replied earnestly. 

Lindsey nodded and Cheryl, a Dutch snowboard joined their conversation. “I think they’re going to cancel,” Cheryl said. 

Cheryl was another down to earth snowboarder, but also had kind of a temper. For the Games, Cheryl had painted the bottom of her tails red and blue and donned a Harley Quinn look. Emma thought it suited her and made her even more badass.

“It would only be a wise move,” Lindsey nodded, concern was written over her face.

“Emma, Lindsey, come here,” Gideon motioned to her.

“Well, if they cancel, I hope they let us through to the final,” Emma remarked and walked towards Gideon and Gold. “So, what’s happening?” she asked when she had joined her coaches.

“The committee is now in consultation. Apparently, the wind is only getting stronger,” Gold told them. 

“What if they cancel?” Emma asked.

“We’re not sure yet,” Gideon said. “It would only be fair to let all of you into the finals.”

Together with all the competitors, they headed to the restaurant of the ski park, waiting to hear the verdict. Ruby was waiting for them there, she had just tried to practice. Emma walked over to her and saw the frustrated look on Ruby’s face.

“I take it practice didn’t go well?” Emma asked.

“No. Bloody wind,” Ruby fumed and plopped down on a bench. “Any news for you?”

“Not yet. The committee is discussing it now,” Emma sighed and looked at the other snowboarders.

Everyone was restless, eager to hear the verdict. Emma hoped it would be canceled, even though she was eager to compete. She loved her sport, but she was planning on getting home in one piece. She let her head rest in her hands for a moment, trying to ease her mind. She looked back up at Ruby with a sly smirk.

“Guess who’s my new roommate,” she snorted.

“Uh, probably not Regina?” Ruby guessed and Emma had the idea Ruby was slowly warming up to the idea of Emma liking the skater.

“Nope. Her younger sister,” Emma elaborated chuckling.

“No way! Zelena Mills?? I heard she's a party animal,” Ruby winked suggestively and slapped Emma on her shoulders.

“Yes, and ten years too young for me,” Emma commented.

“She just showed up?” Ruby inquired.

“Actually, no. I forgot my door pass when I went to see coach after our session and she opened when I got back,” Emma told her.

“Lucky you. How is she?” Ruby asked, curious.

“Much more of a chatterbox and much messier than Kathryn. I think we’re a better match,” Emma replied smiling.

“Good. And maybe you can get to Regina’s heart through her sister,” Ruby said as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Emma shook her head and sighed.

“I don’t think Regina is gay,” she blurted out, her heart clenched painfully as she admitted it out loud.

“How come?” Ruby inquired.

“Just a feeling,” Emma shrugged.

“Is it because she didn’t kiss back?”

Emma shook her head, that was certainly not it. She didn’t know if she could explain it to Ruby without telling her about the kid. Emma didn’t think Regina would appreciate it if she told Ruby and she understood that. Being famous wasn’t easy and Emma thought Regina didn’t want to expose her kid to that world.

“No, just, I don’t know. I may have read her all wrong,” Emma admitted.

“I’ve never met anyone with a more accurate gaydar then you, Swan,” Ruby countered.

“Well, maybe it doesn’t work here,” Emma debated with a sly smile.

“Yeah, right. I think you’re just chickening out,” Ruby pushed. 

Suddenly the room went silent as the committee entered. Emma rose to her feet and joined the other snowboarders. Ruby followed her and laid a hand on Emma’s shoulder.

“Due to the predicted hard wind, the committee has decided to cancel the women’s slopestyle qualifications. This means that, hereby, all of the contenders are qualified for the finals tomorrow. We deeply regret to have to cancel, but we value the safety of our athletes,” one of the men spoke up.

A sigh of relief went through the room. Emma realized the entire playfield had changed now. The finals would be difficult now that there were more competitors and she knew everyone wanted that medal. She needed to up her game and she felt her insecurity rise up again. 

“Hey, you can do this. Remember the golden plan?” Ruby said to her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“I don’t know, Red,” Emma replied uncertainly.

“Hey! You're badass. You got this,” Ruby pushed through, grabbing Emma’s face.

“Ruby is right, Emma. You got this,” coach Gold said behind her.

Still uncertain, Emma looked up. The plan she and Ruby had made, may have been good enough for the qualifications, but she doubted it would be enough for the final. On the other hand, coach believed in her and there had been a day where she had been world champion. If she could find that chick again, she would be golden.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

They packed up their stuff and left for the van. Emma was about to drop her stuff when someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around and found Regina standing behind her, looking guilty.

“I’m glad I caught you,” she started shyly.

Out here in the snow, Regina looked so out of place. Emma could clearly tell she felt uncomfortable and it looked cute on her. Emma closed her eyes a moment, she had no right to find Regina cute or even attractable. Regina had been very clear she wasn’t a dyke. 

“What are you doing here?” Emma said a bit too harshly.  

“I want to apologize for yesterday, I’m…”

“Not a dirty dyke. I got that part,” Emma recited.

“Emma, let me...” Regina tried again, but Emma was losing her patience. 

“Look, you were very clear and that’s cool with me. Let’s just both go our own way from here, okay?” Emma spat before she slammed the door close.

Without giving Regina another chance to reply, she stepped into the van and drove off. She didn’t see how lonely and heartbroken Regina stared after them…


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Thank you all for reading and reading and reviewing and leaving kudo's, all of it made me smile so hard!
> 
> Anyway, I thought to surprise you with an early update, as I'm away this weekend. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of this wild rollercoaster of a fic ;)
> 
> Have a nice weekend all!

**February 11th– PyeongChang, 15.45**

Fuming, Emma stared out of the window. How and why had Regina dared to show up and find her? As if it wasn’t hard enough already. Emma had to admit, Regina coming all the way to the snowboard park to see her had tempered Emma’s anger. The skater had looked so adorably shy and… Emma shook her head, she needed to forget Regina. Regina had been very clear the other night and….

 _Wait_.

What if she hadn’t meant it at all? What if she had said it in a panic? And Emma hadn’t even given her a chance to apologize. Dumbfounded, Emma blinked. How could she have been so stupid? She turned in her seat, but they had long but left Phoenix Park. There was no way now she could talk to Regina soon, tomorrow would be her medal event and if she remembered correctly, Regina’s schedule was crazy as well. Groaning a bit, she sunk back in her seat.

“What’s wrong with you?” Killian asked, disturbed.

“Nothing, go back to your beauty sleep,” she grumbled and pulled out her phone.

It was just her luck that Ruby was riding in the front, she really needed some advice.

 **SnowySwan** : _I screwed up, Red._

Emma glanced back outside, not really registering the scenery. It had snowed last night and the mountains were beautifully covered with a fresh layer of snow. Emma loved the fresh snow, it snowboarded so much better than on the older, already trampled snow. Her phone vibrated in her hand and Emma unlocked it quickly.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _What did you do now?_

 **SnowySwan** : _I blew Regina off…_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _What?? When?_

 **SnowySwan** : _Just now. She came to see me board._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _You’re lucky I can’t reach you. Idiot._

 **SnowySwan** : _Thanks. Help?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _Go apologize. Duh. (Although I still think you can do better)_

 **SnowySwan** : _Between my event tomorrow and her crazy schedule, when? (And shut up)_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _You’ve got to do something if you really want her that bad. (Just sayin’)_

Emma shook her head smiling, Ruby was right. She needed to make the grand gesture and perhaps, maybe there was a way they could make it work. Still, there was the case of the young son. Maybe Regina was bi, not that Emma cared. She needed Regina back in her arms an preferably on her. Or underneath her. Without clothes. Emma’s phone vibrated again, pulling her effectively off the road she was heading toward.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _Keep it in your pants!_

 **SnowySwan** : _…. How?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _You’re predictable. And you were drooling_. 

 **SnowySwan** : _Shut up._

Unconsciously, Emma licked her lips, only to realize Ruby was messing with her. Emma glanced at her watch, what if she tried to see Regina at her practice? She had no idea if Regina was practicing tonight, but it was worth a shot, right? 

The van came to a halt and Emma stepped over Killian out of the van. Out of the back of the van, she grabbed her bag and started to walk to her apartment complex. Ruby quickly caught up with her and bumped her shoulder against Emma’s.

“You really like her, don’t you?” she asked quietly.

“Yes. I don’t know when it happened, but she got me under her spell,” Emma breathed.

“Oh, I know when,” Ruby chuckled. “Right after the Ceremony. There was this look in your eyes, I’ve never seen it,” Ruby claimed with a sly smile.

“I need to set this right, Red.”

Emma bit down on her lip and looked up at her best friend. All the way back to PyeongChang she had felt so much regret about cutting Regina off. 

“Then go do that. If you need any help, call me,” Ruby winked and dashed up the stairs.

Relieved, Emma followed her. It had troubled her that Ruby had hated Regina so much. But now Ruby seemed to be warming up to the skater and Emma was glad for it. She didn’t know what happened to change Ruby’s mind, but she wasn’t complaining. 

When she arrived back at her room, it was empty. Emma dropped her stuff on the ground and collapsed on her bed. She lifted her head up to glance at her clock and realized it was just past 16.30 and not yet time for dinner or to go see Regina. She groaned and got up again. Time to hit the gym…

**February 11th – Gangneun, 19.05**

Nervous, Emma stood before the skating hall. She had passed a group of partying Dutch fans, it looked like their country had won another medal. Swallowing down her nerves, Emma showed her badge with as much confidence she could muster and, without much trouble, she had gained access to the arena. The halls were deserted, yet Emma could smell the victory and if she listened closely she could hear the echo of cheers from the crowd. A tiny smile crept up her face, history was being made here and she was so privileged to be a part of it. 

The closer she got to the ice rink where she suspected Regina was practicing, the more her stomach tied itself into knots. She wrung her hands as she closed in on the rink and with a deep breath, she stepped inside. At first glance, she was afraid Regina wasn’t there, but then the brunette skater appeared in her sights and she let out a breath of relief. She started down the stairs with her eyes trained on the skating and swirling skater. 

“I don’t think so!”

A sharp and nasal voice stopped her dead in her tracks. Victoria Belfrey stood a few steps underneath her with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. The regal woman stormed up the steps, grabbing Emma by the arm and dragged her out of the rink. She all but threw Emma out onto the floor and Emma quickly scrambled to her feet.

“I just need to speak to her,” she begged.

“No chance, kiddo,” Victoria replied coldly.

“Just a minute. A second. She needs to know I’m sorry,” Emma tried again and this time tried to physically pass Victoria.

The smaller woman held Emma at bay with ease with only one arm. Emma huffed and looked begging at the stern coach. “Please?” she asked with a small voice.

“You’ve done enough damage. Regina needs to concentrate and doesn’t need a distraction like you. I don’t know if you realize this, but this is her last chance to win gold and you’re not going to ruin it,” Victoria said in an ice-cold tone, her eyes were shining to tell Emma she was not someone to mess around with.

Emma faltered, realizing she wasn’t going to see Regina. 

“Can you at least tell her I’m sorry?” Emma asked feebly. 

“I’ll think about it,” Victoria replied.

Emma nodded and started to walk away. As she looked over her shoulder, she saw Victoria was watching her like a hawk. She swallowed and quickly made her way out of the arena. Out in the cold air, she felt her eyes were stinging with yet unshed tears. As the realization slowly settled, a single tear escaped. The knowledge she wouldn’t be able to see Regina for God knows how long was ripping her to pieces. She needed to fix this with Regina, she needed Regina to know she hadn’t meant what she said. Emma prayed Regina would forgive her for being so rude because she needed Regina in her life, one way or another. That kiss had lit up feelings deep within Emma and she hoped Regina had felt the same. If not, she would settle for friendship. Anything to have the skater in her life. 

Without really realizing it, Emma had stepped on her bike and was now halfway to PyeongChang. The wind was blowing cold in her face and the tears streaming down weren’t really helpful in keeping her warm. In no time, she parked her bike next to the apartment block and walked inside. Out of her pocket, she pulled her phone and send a quick text to Ruby.

 **SnowySwan** : _Operation ‘Melt The Ice Queen’ has failed._

She pocketed her phone and ran up the stairs. It was time to get her head in the game, tomorrow was her only chance to prove herself to the world. The only problem was that all she could think of was Regina. Emma was cooking up all sort of crazy scenarios to get a chance to talk to Regina, the more she thought up, the wilder they got. Emma swiped her card into her room and entered. Luckily it was empty, she didn’t think she could handle an overly hyper Zelena right now. All she felt was exhaustion and defeat. Even though it was only nine o’clock, she decided to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day. Emma undid herself from her thick jacket and shuffled to the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the lights. As she was brushing her teeth, her phone started to vibrate. Apparently Ruby was still awake.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _What? Why? What happened?_

 **SnowySwan:** _I ran into her coach. She should be a quarterback._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _Did she hurt you? Do I need to punch her?_

 **SnowySwan:** _No, I’m good. Just a bruised ego._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _So what are you going to do now?_

 **SnowySwan:** _Going to cuddle my pillow._

Emma spit out the toothpaste and rinsed her mouth with the clean water. With her phone in her hand, she shuffled back to her bed and started to get undressed while texting Ruby back. 

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _No, idiot. I mean about Regina._

 **SnowySwan** : _Nothing, I suppose._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _Since when are you a quitter? Come on, you’ve got a big crush on her! Go get her! Pull out all the stops!_

 **SnowySwan:** _I don’t think she’s got a crush on me._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _Based on what?_

 **SnowySwan:** _Based on ‘I’m not a dirty dyke’_

Emma rolled into bed and felt her body relax almost immediately. Her head, however, was in overdrive. Was Ruby right? Should she pull out all the stops? Emma shook her head, Regina had been quite clear.

_But why did she come see you today, then?_

Emma wished she could shut up that little voice, that annoying, little voice that was most of the time right. Because indeed, why had Regina shown up? Could it be because the skater had panicked and hadn’t meant what she said? Regina wouldn’t have made the trip up to argue more, she would have come to apologize. Emma groaned, why didn’t she or Regina have more time to just talk?

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _She said that? Jeez, bitch. Maybe you should just forget her._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _Thought about it. Nope. Go after her._

Emma frowned, what the hell was wrong with Ruby?

 **SnowySwan:** _Since when do you have a split personality?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _You know I’ve always been a bit crazy, right?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _No, seriously though. Maybe she freaked out and didn’t know what to say. Maybe it was her first kiss with another woman._

Emma nodded thoughtfully at that, that could also be an explanation. 

 **SnowySwan:** _Yeah, maybe._

 **SnowySwan:** _I’m going to sleep. Big day tomorrow and perhaps everything will be better then._

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _Good idea. You can do it!_  

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _Go dream of your ice queen._

Shaking her head, Emma laid aside her phone and ducked under the covers. She closed her eyes and soon drifted off to sleep, her dreams filled with dancing figure skaters and deep brown eyes…

**12th February – PyeongChang, 09.50**

Emma wished she could just shut her brain off. She had been dreaming about Regina all night and now she turned her head at every brunette she saw. Closing her eyes, she tried a meditation exercise, but there was too much noise around her. 

“Hey, Swan!” 

Emma looked up and saw Cheryl, the Dutch snowboarder, approach her. 

“Hey!”

Cheryl came standing next to her, observing Emma for a moment.

“You ready for this?” she asked as she motioned to the course.

The weather had improved, so the IOC had given the green light for their competition. Emma had her doubts, but after trying out the course she had a somewhat good feeling about it. The wind gushes were still there, but not as strong as the previous day.

“Yeah. You?” she asked.

“Sort of. Don’t like the wind,” Cheryl murmured while squinting at a snowboarder who was going downhill. 

“Me neither. Good luck out there,” Emma said as she bumped her shoulder lightly against the Dutch woman.

“You too. See you on the other side,” Cheryl smirked and stalked off to her coach.

Emma had run into Cheryl before and she liked the down to earth snowboarder. She had that whole Dutch sobriety over her and it worked well for her. Emma knew she was strong competition and had seen her do crazy stunts. Perhaps they should train together someday, Emma pondered.

“Emma, come on!”

Coach Gold pulled her out of her thoughts and Emma walked over to him. They discussed strategy for this first run and Gold impressed on her that she had to be careful. Emma nodded, she knew how treacherous these gushes of wind were.

Soon enough it was time for her to go up and found herself strapped to her board staring down the course. She breathed in the cool mountain air and just before she went down, Regina’s smile flashed before her eyes. She blinked and found herself almost on top of the first rail. She quickly jumped and landed sideways on it. She managed the get her board horizontal and slid down the rail. She waited until the last possible moment and jumped off. She landed safely with a switch, building up speed to the first jump and prepared a Kicker. The wind picked up at the moment she was about to land, but she managed barely to stay upright. Adrenalin was coursing through her after that jump and her heart rate sped up. She swallowed and decided to go for safety, another rail. She decided on a frontside approach and managed to land it perfectly. She knew she needed to perform a difficult trick to get her score up and decided to just go for it. Speeding up she aimed for another jump, this time preparing a Chicken Salad. She landed safely and sped towards her final trick, the kinked rail. Emma wanted to do it with her board covering it in length, she knew she could score some points on difficulty. She jumped on with ease and felt confident about finishing properly. Suddenly, the wind picked up again and, as she moved to the second kink in the rail, she got blown off. She managed to stay upright but needed to reach out to the snow underneath her to keep her balance. Bummed, she crossed the finish line, knowing this wasn’t her best run. As she slowed down, she glanced up at the board and, to her surprise, she finished second for now. Her mouth slightly agape, she slid up her goggles and grinned like a madman. She undid her bindings and with her board under her arm, she walked to the exit, while waving at the cameras. She got held up briefly at the press, answering questions about the course and her run. After she finished up, she met Ruby, Gold, and Neal who were waiting for her.

“You did it! That looked so awesome!” Ruby yelled in her ear as she all but tackled Emma.

Emma only smirked and high fived Neal, who was grinning so wide, Emma was scared his face would split.

“That was amazing! That Kicker was wild!” Neal gushed excitedly.

“Thanks! That last rail, though,” Emma said squinting, still not satisfied with how she ended her run.

“The wind got you, the rest looked really solid,” Gold chimed in, Emma detected a small smile on his face.

“Thanks, coach,” she said with a crooked smile.

“Come on, let’s watch the rest,” Ruby said as she dragged Emma with her.

They watched the rest of the run from the heated, athletes-only box just above the stands. Emma was impressed with all the runs and was bummed out when Cheryl took a hard fall and didn’t make in the final sixteen. Emma ended fifth in the end and watched Cheryl give a heated interview with the press. Emma felt for the Dutch woman and decided to find her later to talk to her. Soon it was time to go back up for her final run. 

“Coach, what do we do?” she asked Gold seriously. 

“The same as the first run. Try to stay upright and try to get some difficulty in your tricks. But above all, stay safe,” he said thoughtfully.

“Copy that.”

Emma went down fifth and managed to stay upright and add some difficulty in her tricks until halfway the course. After a frontside triple cork 1440, she landed too hard and fell. She managed to get up but wasn’t able to get more difficulty in her tricks because her right ankle had twisted nastily. As soon as she had finished, she knew it was over. A quick glance at the board told her she had finished first, as the previous runs had ended in bad falls as well, but she knew it wouldn’t stick. This had been her Olympics and she wouldn’t bring any medals home. Strapping her bindings loose she limped behind the fences, right after briefly speaking to the press. They asked her how difficult it was and if the wind was bothering her. Emma had told them it was a hard course and that she didn’t understand why the IOC had let them do their runs. They should have waited a couple of days. Gold jumped in and rushed her to the first aid tent and guided her to a quiet spot in the back.

“What happened?” he asked as she sat down on the stretcher.

“The wind, of course. It brought me out of my rotation and suddenly the ground was there,” she groaned as he moved her ankle cautiously.

“How is the pain?” he inquired.

“A six, for now. Doesn’t feel like it’s broken,” she gritted through her teeth.

Gold nodded and stepped aside to let the physician do his job. While he examined her ankle, her eyes glanced up at the small tv screen and saw Regina and Daniel being interviewed. Images of Regina dancing with Daniel were showed during the interview and her heart swelled a little at seeing Regina on that tiny screen. She looked good. Confident. Unfortunately, Emma didn’t get to see the rest of the interview as the doctor discharged her with a minor sprained ankle. He told her to stay off it for a couple of days and she would be as good as new.

“How’s it going here?” Emma asked as she entered the heated box.

“It’s going,” Ruby replied, not sounding convinced. “How’s your ankle?” she asked as she looked up at her friend.

“It’s fine, just a little sprained,” Emma filled her in as she sat down.

Ruby nodded and Emma glanced at the board. She frowned as she saw she was third now, that wasn’t a good sign. It meant a lot of people had fallen down as well and, as Emma calculated, the wind was picking up again. In silence, they watched the runs and eventually, Emma ended sixth. 

“I’m sorry, Ems. I know you hoped for more,” Ruby said as they made their way back to the van.

“Yeah, well. Nothing I can do now,” Emma replied. 

She longed for her bed, these Olympics had turned out disastrous. She had given everything on the course and yet she went home without a medal, even though she hadn’t thought she would get one when she started this adventure. But during practice and after talks with Gold and Ruby, she had gotten hopeful. She was still good enough to play in the big leagues, but this stupid wind had ruined everything.

Talking about ruined, so where her chances with Regina. She had completely blown that too and she stood on the verge of giving up. Even though she wouldn’t have to compete anymore, there was no way she would get passed coach Belfrey and her only chance to see Regina was to sneak into her practices. Emma sighed, this had really turned out like a nightmare. She would give everything to just go home now and decided she would ask coach Gold about it tomorrow. Perhaps he could arrange something for her. 

Deeply in thought, Emma was about to get out of the heated box when Gold called her name.

“Emma, wait!”

Emma turned around and saw him dashing towards her. He waved his phone and came to a skidding halt.

“Just got a call from the IOC, they caught a Russian snowboarder with the doping test. She would be competing in halfpipe. You are filling her spot,” he laughed excitedly.

“What?” Emma asked confused, she was already on a plane back home in her mind.

“You’re going to do the halfpipe. Today,” he grinned.

_Holy…_

_Shit…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Kicker: Another term for a slopestyle jump.  
> * Chicken Salad: The rear hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge between the bindings while the front leg is boned. Also, the wrist is rotated inward to complete the grab.  
> * frontside triple cork 1440: Frontside basically means opening your chest out to the direction you’re travelling as you rotate off the jump.


	7. Chapter 7

**February 12th – Phoenix Snow Park, 12.45**

Emma found herself back in the first aid tent, this time to get her ankle taped up properly. The doctor didn’t really agree with her plan to compete in less than an hour, but Gold had convinced him. Now, she tried to relax as much as possible all the while feeling so excited. She never would have dreamed she would compete in the discipline she had trained so hard for and now she was!

“Alright, this should do it,” the doctor said as he helped her up. “I do have to warn you, this is really unwise. You need to stay off that ankle to let it heal,” he pressed on.

“I know. But I gotta do this. After tomorrow I have plenty of time to rest,” she joked and pulled on her shoes.

“Well, good luck then,” he sighed and nodded at her.

“Thanks, doc.”

Emma hopped off the stretcher and hardly felt her ankle at all. She knew she would feel it as soon as the tape was removed, but that was a care for another day. Briskly, she walked out of the tent, where she almost immediately got tackled by Ruby and Neal.

“Are you really competing in the halfpipe?” Ruby yelled excitedly.

“How the hell are you so lucky?” Neal chimed in, equally excited.

Emma grinned widely as she looked at her friends. Suddenly, life didn’t look as grim as it had an hour ago. She would compete in the discipline she had worked four years for and she would be damned if she didn’t try her hardest at winning. Now she knew she had a real shot.

“Calm down,” she chuckled as she made her way to the canteen, Neal and Ruby following her. “Yes, I am competing for halfpipe and I have no idea what I did to deserve this luck,” she continued cheerfully.

“Damn. This is so awesome,” Ruby gushed.

“I know, right!” Emma felt giddy like it was the first day of school. 

“You’ve got this, Swan,” Killian boomed as soon as they walked into the canteen.

Emma halted, staring at Killian. That was the nicest thing he had said all trip and, to be honest, she teared up a bit about it. She never really hated Killian, he had just made the mistake to take a liking to her. A liking she couldn’t repay.

“Thanks, Killian,” she beamed and he stuck up his thumb at her. 

Coach Gold and Gideon approached her and Gold seized her up with a concerned look. 

“How is your ankle?” he asked sternly.

“The doctor taped it up. I hardly feel it,” Emma replied sincerely.

“Good. I think it’s wise to not put too much strain on it,” he thought out loud.

“Can’t promise anything. Do you have a game plan for me?” she asked, glancing at the clipboard in his hand.

“Of course we do,” Gideon grinned.

Emma followed Gold and Gideon to the back of the canteen to concentrate on the game plan. For the next half hour they discussed tactics and tricks and when it was time for the event to start, Emma felt really confident. According to the list, she would start last. Emma didn’t like to go last, it meant the wait was way too long for her liking. She decided not to watch the runs from the box, scared it would distract her too much. Instead, she hung back in the canteen.

“Good luck, knock 'em dead,” Emma said as she hugged Ruby.

Ruby would start third and was a little ball of nerves. It was what had surprised Emma the most at first, big-mouth-Ruby who was so nervous before every game. Ruby had confided in her that she had always been like that, ever since she was a little girl. At primary school, she was known as Barfer Ruby, as she threw up in the wings before a recital. Now she didn’t throw up anymore, but she was still damn nervous before any game, no matter how small.

“You too. You’ve got this,” Ruby smiled a tight-lipped smile and disappeared out of the canteen. 

Emma and a couple of other snowboarders hung back until it was their time to go up. While finding a spot, Emma spotted Cheryl in the back and decided to see how she was doing.

“Hey. Is this seat taken?” she asked, smiling.

Cheryl looked up and shook her head. 

“Your team ditched you as well?” Cheryl asked jokingly.

“No, I’m going last,” Emma replied as she pointed at the tv screen, which showed the halfpipe event.

“You’re boarding? I thought you weren’t doing halfpipe these Games?” Cheryl asked surprised.

“I wasn’t. Until some Russian got caught doping,” Emma elaborated with a small grin.

Cheryl whistled impressed. “Lucky duck,” she said.

“I watched your run. Are you okay?” Emma asked concerned.

“Yeah, just a sore arm. It sucked, though,” Cheryl breathed, trying to put a brave face on.

“It did,” Emma agreed and wrapped Cheryl in a sideways hug.

Cheryl leaned into the hug and sighed as if finally allowing her disappointment.

“In what place did you end up, eventually?” Cheryl asked as she stirred her warm chocolate.

Longingly, Emma looked at the warm chocolate. She had always been a sucker for the hot beverage with cinnamon, but she needed to lay off until at least after the Games. 

“Sixth,” Emma replied.

“Not bad.”

Emma shook her head and together they watched as snowboarder after snowboarder went down the halfpipe. They cheered for Ruby, who was now leading the scoreboard. Soon it was Emma’s turn to go up and she bid Cheryl a warm goodbye, with a promise to come cheer her on at the Big Air event. Emma climbed on the back of the snow scooter and felt nerves building in her stomach. For a moment she hated that she couldn’t share this moment with Regina. The situation with the skater was still a disaster and Emma hoped she could find a way to fix it. 

On top of the halfpipe stood Gold waiting for her and handed her her favorite board. She had made it especially for her, her favorite artist had drawn a beautiful swan and she had it placed on her board. She only used this board for important games and it had gotten her the sixth place in slopestyle.

“Good luck, you can do this,” Gold told her and nodded encouragingly. “And remember, safety first,” he added.

“Will do.”

Soon, she had strapped her board to her boots and was she up next. She watched as the previous contender, a Canadian girl, went down and was impressed by her performance. Emma slid forward and took her place above the halfpipe. She adjusted her goggles, already planning her tricks as she stared down the halfpipe. Luckily, the wind had almost completely died down, which made this event a bit easier.

Emma knew now was the time to do it and decided to take risks. She had to if she wanted to beat Ruby. Suddenly she got the thumbs up and she hopped down a bit until she threw her board forwards to the lip of the halfpipe. She dipped her board over the edge, gaining speed and lined up for her first trick, a Michalchuck. The momentum gave her all the more speed and she immediately performed a Frontside Double Cork 1080 which she landed perfectly. She quickly glanced down and saw she was halfway and had plenty of room.  She sped down, crossing the half pipe effectively and launching herself into a Frontside Double Cork Lien 1080, landing it precisely as she had planned. Next, she lined up a Crippler, finishing it off with a switch. She wanted to end big and sped once again down to the other side of the halfpipe. As she launched into the air, she twisted her body and performed a Cab 1080. She landed a bit out of balance but kept herself upright. Smiling like an idiot she crossed the finish line.

She pumped up her arms, this was what she came to do here! Do what she was best in! She steered her board horizontally while searching for the scoreboard. She hopped around until she found it and when she came to a complete halt, she undid her bindings. Finally, her score appeared on the board, 88.75, which landed her just under Ruby. Cheering, she grabbed her board and made her way to the press. They fired all sort of questions at her and she answered them happily. Finally, they let her go and Emma dived into Ruby’s wide open arms.

“That was so wicked!” Ruby yelled. 

“I know!” Emma yelled back and together they jumped up and down. 

Eventually, Gold calmed them down, reminding them they had another run to go. Smirking like idiots, they climbed on the snow scooters to go back up. When they reached the top, no one else was there yet. They stood next to each other, looking down at the spectators and the halfpipe in serenity.

“How crazy is this?” Emma asked as she looked aside at her friend.

Both of them had come so far. Ruby, who had grown up with only her grandmother. Emma, the foster child. Now both of them stood at the top of their careers, both of them having their dreams come true. Together they had worked towards it and Emma was so glad she could share this experience with her best friend.

“Crazy,” Ruby agreed, her demeanor quiet and calm down.

Emma had rarely seen Ruby like this and felt privileged that Ruby shared this with her. Emma knew Ruby’s loud mouth and ADHD-like behavior was just a façade to the rest of the world. She was glad Ruby felt at ease with Emma, at least enough to show her true self.

“We’ve got this. No matter who wins,” Emma said.

Ruby looked up, a serious look in her eyes. “No matter who wins,” she repeated. 

For a moment they held onto the serenity around them and watch the staff prepare the halfpipe for the second run. Soon, other athletes reached the top and they became surrounded by noise and music. Before they knew it, the second run was about to start and next to each other, Emma and Ruby strapped their boards to their boots. After one last hug, Ruby went down first. She improved her score with a few points and was fairly sure she was qualified.

Even though there was tremendous turmoil around her with coaches, athletes, and staff, Emma felt completely serene. She had mastered the skill of blocking out noises and while she waited for the green light, she glanced down the halfpipe. In her mind, she went over the tricks she wanted to do. She didn’t need to take much risk and she liked it that way. She got the green light and she hopped down until she threw her board forward and slid towards the lip of the halfpipe. She dipped her board over the edge and felt the wind rush past her. She loved this feeling, she loved the feeling like she was flying. It practically was true as she flew into the air, performing a perfect Cab 720 Stalefish. She landed perfectly and raced towards the other end of the halfpipe. She lined up for a Switch Backside 900 and used to momentum to build up more speed for her third trick, a Frontside 1080. Glancing down the halfpipe, she estimated she had room for two more tricks, maybe three if she kept it tight. She didn’t need to, so she decided on two more tricks. Emma threw in a McTwist, one of her favorites and finished with a Chicken Salad. Satisfied with how it went, she unstrapped her board and waited for the score. This time she scored a bit below her first score, but she was still second. Nodding satisfied, she made her way to the press for the last interview of the day. 

“We heard you wouldn’t compete in halfpipe these games. How did you prepare?” one reporter asked.

“I didn't,” Emma chuckled. “I’ve been training for four years for this event, so I came prepared. Of course, it was a surprise that I was allowed to compete after all, but as I said, I came prepared,” she added a bit more serious.

“You ended just behind your teammate, Miss Lucas. Is there any competition between you two?” another reporter asked.

“No, not at all. Ruby and I train together, compete together, we basically do everything together,” Emma grinned.

She finished the interviews and walked over to Gold and Ruby. Emma dropped her board and hugged Ruby tightly. 

“We did it,” she smirked.

“Yes, we did!” Ruby cheered.

They made their way up to the heated box to watch the rest of the run. Emma felt herself relax, she and Ruby had definitely qualified themselves for the finales and it felt so good. Eventually, Emma ended third, while Ruby held her spot on top. 

Exhausted and thoroughly satisfied, Emma climbed into the van. Ruby sat down next to her, both of them smirking. For most of the ride, they were quiet, listening to the bickering between Killian and Neal. The men had been practicing all day, preparing for their events tomorrow. 

“So, have you thought about how you’re going to get Regina?” Ruby suddenly asked.

Emma shook her head, she had to admit she had barely thought about the brunette. Today had gone a bit differently then she had thought. But now the gnawing feeling of missing Regina was back in her stomach and Emma wished she could just go and see Regina and talk things through. 

“No. My plan was to go see her skate today, but our events were at the same time,” Emma elaborated.

“Damn. Do you want me to tackle the coach?” Ruby asked jokingly.

“Might not be a bad idea. I think I can handle Daniel on my own,” Emma smirked. “No, I’ll just have to wait until we both have more time and hope she doesn’t go straight home after her events,” Emma added sighing.

“Then you have to chase her to the airport,” Ruby smirked.

Emma shook her head and looked out the window. She really wanted to fix things between her and Regina, she felt like this was the one she couldn’t let go. The few conversations they had and Regina confiding in her about her deafness had really given Emma hope. And of course, the kiss. Emma really wanted to try that out again. The feeling of having Regina so close to her had given her goosebumps and butterflies in her stomach. Emma prayed Regina had just panicked and by now she was convinced that must have been it, otherwise, Regina wouldn’t have come all the way to see her yesterday. Right?

**February 12th – PyeongChang, 16.45**

“What have you done to my sister?” Zelena boomed as soon as Emma had set foot inside the room.

Emma was still reeling from the halfpipe event earlier today. She had qualified herself, there was still another chance to win gold and she’ll be damned if she didn’t try her damnedest to win. An angry Zelena was, however, not what she was expecting right now.

Zelena was standing in the small hallway with her arms propped on her sides, looking all threatening with her fiery eyes. 

“Uh…” Emma started as she took in the angry look. 

“Well?” Zelena demanded.

Emma sighed and scratched her head. There goes the plan to concentrate on her game plan for tomorrow. To be honest, she had forgotten all about Zelena.

“We fought and…" 

“And you blew her off when she came to apologize,” Zelena roared.

_Wow, angry Zelena was scary._

“Yes,” Emma sputtered. 

Zelena started to pace the room while she kept her eyes trained on Emma like a hawk. Emma really started to get frightened. How the hell had she managed to piss off three figure skaters within 24 hours? 

“I really started to like you, you know,” Zelena muttered. 

“I tried to apologize to Regina,” Emma tried to mend the pieces.

That made Zelena stop pacing. 

“Really? When?” she questioned.

“Yesterday evening. I tried to sneak in, but Belfrey caught me,” Emma said defeated.

“You did?” Zelena squeaked surprised. “So you’re not angry with Regina?” she queried.

“No! Quite the opposite,” Emma argued, not sure where this conversation was heading.

“Oh, thank God!” Zelena stormed towards her and scooped her in a bear hug. “Regina was so devastated after your fight. I’ve never seen her like that before. I think she likes you,” Zelena singsonged the last part 

“W-w…what?” Emma stuttered in the hug. 

_She likes me?_

“Yeah! I’ve never heard Regina talk about anyone like she does about you,” Zelena continued enthusiastically and let go of Emma with a beaming smile.

“She talks about me?” Emma croaked.

“Of course, dummy. I think she has a crush,” Zelena beamed as she plopped down on her bed.

Well, this was unexpected.

“So, she’s gay?” Emma asked, just to get a confirmation.

“We never really talked about it, but the way she talks about you, she never did that with Daniel,” Zelena elaborated.

Emma’s head shot up at the mentioning of Daniel. She knew there was something going on between the two of them. 

“Daniel?”

“Yeah. They were a together for a few years. Henry is their son,” Zelena explained. 

Emma nodded and started pacing the room nervously. So that was why Daniel was so overprotective, he thought he still had a chance with Regina. Could that be true? Zelena never confirmed if Regina was even a bit gay and it made Emma nervous. What if she really was reading way too much into it? She really felt attracted to Regina and knew she had never felt a pull like this with anyone. Not even Lacey. Was she digging a hole for herself?

“Your phone wants attention,” Zelena snickered, interrupting her train of thoughts. 

Emma looked up and picked it up from the table, she hadn’t even realized she had laid it there. She opened her phone and saw Ruby was blowing up her phone.

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _Hey, come up with a game plan for tomorrow yet?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _Hello?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube** : _You there?_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _SWAN!!_

 **BoarderGurlll_Rube:** _I swear, if you don’t reply within the next 3 seconds, I’m breaking down your door!_

 **SnowySwan** : _Calm down, I’m here. Zelena was waiting for me all angry, but we’re good now._

Emma looked back up at Zelena, who was still beaming at her.

“So, Regina really wanted to apologize?” she asked as she sat down as well.

“Yeah. She was really fed up about that fight,” Zelena said as she frowned. “Although she didn’t tell me what you two were fighting about.”

Zelena looked up questioning and Emma thought it to be wise not to elaborate on the fight. 

“There must be a way I can talk to her,” Emma said, hoping to distract Zelena from the fight.

“Afraid not. Belfrey has her on a tight training schedule and she’s really focused on her routine for Wednesday,” Zelena replied thoughtfully.

Emma nodded and started to pace again. If Zelena was right and Regina was on some sort of lockdown, she wouldn’t be able to see her before Wednesday. She would be too busy tomorrow with her own event and Emma doubted she would be able to sneak past Belfrey. She suspected the coach was on the lookout for her or even had security notified. 

“Stop pacing, please. You’re making me dizzy,” Zelena jested and threw a pillow at Emma. 

Emma caught it smirking and sat back down. 

“There must be a way,” she thought out loud.

“I’m seeing Regina in a bit for dinner,” Zelena remarked nonchalantly.

Emma’s head shot up, a plan started to form in her head and she jumped to her feet to the small table. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started jotting something down. She folded it, hesitated for a moment, then walked to Zelena and handed it to her.

“Will you give this to her?” she asked.

“Sure,” Zelena nodded and was about to open it when Emma grabbed her arm.

“No peaking,” she grinned.

Zelena looked up frowning and considered Emma’s words. Then she nodded and pocketed the piece of paper.

“I promise. I’ll keep you posted,” she winked as she stood up and walked into the bathroom.

Emma plopped down on her bed, filled with excitement and joy. Suddenly it all was looking better. She would have another shot at gold tomorrow and maybe she would be able to get back in contact with Regina. Yes, it looked definitely better.

Zelena appeared in the doorway, a toothbrush stuck out of the corner of her mouth.

“By the way, Kathryn wanted to say sorry that she left without letting you know,” she said around the toothbrush.

Emma peaked up, Kathryn had vanished to the back of her mind, but certainly not forgotten.

“Thanks,” she replied thoughtfully. “Do you know why she had such an abhorrence against me?” She questioned.

Zelena disappeared into the bathroom, only to return without the toothbrush.

“I’m sure it was nothing personal. What I know, is that she was married a snowboarder. I believe his name was David,” Zelena mused out loud.

Emma gasped. David Nolan was an legend among the snowboard world. He had been one badass, inventing new tricks and live on the wild side. She had never met him, as he had died in a snowboarding accident in the year she started. What she had heard was that he had been trying to nail a new dangerous trick and that had gone horrible wrong. She had no idea he had been married to Kathryn, but now it clicked. She didn’t know why it hadn’t clicked before, they shared the same last name.

“That explains a lot, actually,” Emma nodded and made a mental note to apologize to Kathryn when she got the chance.

“Well, I’m off. I’ll be sure to deliver the message,” Zelena winked as she grabbed her jacket.

“Great, thanks. Have fun!”

Emma looked after, a huge smirk was plastered on her face…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Michalchuck: In halfpipe competition, a backflip done on the backside wall. 
> 
> Frontside Double Cork 1080: a cork is basically a rotation where the rider spins and flips at the same time, like a corkscrew
> 
> Frontside Double Cork Lien 1080: a cork is basically a rotation where the rider spins and flips at the same time, like a corkscrew, grabbing your heel edge with your front hand on a frontside air should always be referred to as a Lien grab 
> 
> Crippler: In halfpipe competition, a backflip done on the frontside wall.
> 
> Cab 1080: A frontside rotation while riding switch.
> 
> Cab 720 Stalefish: when a rider hits the lip riding switch and rotates frontside, it's known as 'Cab', after the inventor of the trick, Steve Caballero. In this case, Emma grabs her board with her trailing hand behind her back heel – a Stalefish grab – and rides out facing forwards after more than a full rotation, so it's a Cab 720 Stalefish. 
> 
> Backside 900: The heel-side edge of the snowboard.
> 
> McTwist: An inverted aerial where the snowboarder rotates 540 degrees or more and does a frontflip.
> 
> Chicken Salad: The rear hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge between the bindings while the front leg is boned. Also, the wrist is rotated inward to complete the grab


	8. Chapter 8

**February 12th – PyeongChang, 19.30**  
With her hands deep in her pockets, Emma was on her way back to the apartment complex. She hadn’t spotted Regina and Zelena during dinner, she figured they must have gone before her. She startled when someone practically jumped on her back. It was Ruby, who was jumping up and down excitedly.

“Guess who just arrived to surprise us?” she gushed as she kept jumping up and down.

Emma frowned, following the overly excited Ruby with her eyes.

“No clue. Santa?” she asked, she didn’t really care.

All she cared for was a hot shower, yoga and her bed. She needed to mentally prepare herself for tomorrow. She felt good physically, only needed to get into the right headspace.

“Granny!”

“What?”

Emma’s mouth opened slightly in surprise. She didn’t see that one coming; Ruby’s grandmother, dubbed Granny by both girls, was well past her seventies and Emma hadn’t expected she would make the long trip to see them. Granny had always supported them and driven them to their various games. Ruby always called her jokingly their number 1 fan and apparently Granny had taken that to heart.

“Yes! Our Granny is here! She’s meeting us in the Team USA House!”

Ruby all but dragged Emma with her back into the village. Every country had their own hospitality house, from which the Holland Heineken Huis was the most popular. Emma had visited as well and partied along with the many, many Dutch fans. Team USA House was a bit more toned down and not accessible for fans. It was an invite only and for the athletes and their friends and family.   
Ruby flashed her badge and dragged Emma into the House. After some searching, Ruby spotted Granny just before Emma did and they walked up to the lady who was oddly not that out of place in there.

“Ruby! Emma!” the woman greeted them and engulfed them in a big hug. “Oh, you two are doing so great!” she beamed at them.

“Hey, Granny. This is quite a surprise,” Emma smiled broadly.

“I know. I wanted to come and support you after you were done with your event so you wouldn’t feel left out and now I see you’re still competing! Good for you!” Granny explained excitedly.

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you,” Ruby said and hugged her grandmother again.

“And I wanted to see that you’re behaving,” Granny said, quasi-stern and chuckled.

“Always, Gran, always. You know me,” Ruby smirked, winking coyly at Emma.

“I do and that’s why I wanted to keep an eye on you, young lady,” Granny remarked smartly. “Now, let’s have a drink and you two tell me everything.”

Emma ordered the drinks, while Ruby and Granny found a quiet table in the back. Emma returned with the drinks to the table where Ruby was already telling all about the Olympic experience, Emma helped to fill in the blanks.

Emma watched as Granny listened to Ruby intently. She was so glad the woman was here. Granny had won over her heart and been the mother figure she never had. Granny had bought her her first tampon and explained what was happening with her body. She had found a consoling shoulder in Granny after her first heartbreak. Granny had been her rock through most of her life and it meant so much to her that Granny was here now to witness her and Ruby’s success. At first Granny had found snowboarding dangerous, but the more games she saw, the more supportive she got. Emma smiled at an anecdote an animated Ruby told and Emma added some forgotten facts. After talking for more than an hour, Granny stood up, announcing she needed to get some sleep. They said goodnight to the woman and watched her leave the House.

“It’s so great to have her here,” Ruby said quietly, taking a sip of her drink.

“Yeah, it is. She’s a real champ,” Emma agreed.

Around them more people filed into the House and a DJ started the music. Laughter, chatter and loud music filled the House and Ruby looked mischievously at Emma.

“How about we celebrate our qualification?” she smirked.

For a moment Emma hesitated. She had planned to get up early tomorrow to do some strength training, but this was quite a unique situation. Both of them had qualified, that was worth a party, right? She remembered previous events where she had slept less than four hours and still managed to win.

“Sounds like a plan,” Emma grinned.

They got up and mingled with the dancing people around them. Soon enough, Ruby was tightly dancing with an ice hockey player who was definitely not her roommate, rubbing her front to the girl’s ass. Emma smirked, knowing Ruby would never ever change. She herself got enough attention as well and currently she was dancing with a tall brunette. They laughed and swirled and Emma let the music take over. Every other song Emma danced with someone else, reveling in the absolutely exuberant ambiance around her. Just before the DJ started a slow song, she landed in the arms of a small, yet strong blonde woman and Emma recognized her as one of the figure skaters. They started to slow dance to the song and Emma pulled the woman closer to her. As she closed her eyes, she imagined for a moment she was dancing with Regina. She imagined Regina’s hands roaming her back, imagined it was Regina’s body moving against hers. She imagined feeling Regina’s heartbeat against her chest and Regina’s lips on hers…

_Wait…_

_What?_

Emma’s eyes flew open and jerked away from the woman. The woman looked at her startled and hurt. Emma was about to speak, when in the corner of her eye she spotted a flurry of familiar brown hair and shocked, chocolate brown eyes and for a moment everything around her froze. That was Regina. That was Regina who saw her kiss another woman.

_Fuck._

_Shit. Fuck. Shitfuck._

Without explaining herself, Emma stormed after the brunette and ended up outside without a coat. She spotted Regina just up ahead and Emma sprinted after her. She knew it wouldn’t help to call her name, instead she grabbed Regina’s arm. A furious Regina turned around, her eyes were spitting fire.

“You’ve got some nerve,” Regina spat.

“I’m sorry, that was not what it looked like!” Emma shivered, trying to explain herself.

“Were you or were you not sucking that woman’s face off?” Regina barked, angrily motioning with her arms.

“Yes, but…” Emma started, wanted to explain how she wanted to dance with Regina and wanted to kiss her and not that random woman, but Regina cut her off.

“Well, that’s clear then,” she commented. “I was coming to see you after you wrote this, I wanted to say sweet message, but I see you found someone else to entertain you,” she added coldly and turned on her heels.

“Regina, that’s not- Regina!” Emma called after her, realizing it was of no use.

Regina was walking away with a straight back and her head held high and Emma felt like crying. This was it, this should have been their redemption moment. They should have ended up kissing each other at the end of the evening and now everything was ruined. Even Zelena wouldn’t want to help after she heard what stunt Emma had pulled. Emma contemplated running after Regina, but she figured she would only make things worse, if that was even possible. Realizing what she had done and that she had ruined her only shot at fixing this mess, broke Emma completely. Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest, like it wanted to jump out of her and go after Regina.

“Emma, you idiot. What are you doing?”

Someone threw her jacket over her and blinking, Emma looked up. She hadn’t realized she had started crying and now she didn’t know how to stop. Ruby looked at her surprised and then spotted the retreating back of Regina. Suddenly it clicked. Ruby had seen that blonde hotshot kiss Emma and apparently so had Regina. Ruby wrapped Emma into her jacket and walked her back to her apartment. Emma was still a blubbering mess by the time they reached her room. Ruby reached into Emma’s pocket and opened the room. Thankfully, Zelena wasn’t here. Ruby unwrapped Emma out of her jacket and Emma sprawled out on her bed.

“Why did I do that, Red?” she asked between two sobs.

“I don’t know, Ems,” Ruby offered softly as she kneeled before Emma.

“I…I didn’t know…. I didn’t know Regina… was there,” Emma hiccupped as she sat up straight.

“I know, sweetie. I know.”

Ruby enveloped Emma into an hug and let her cry. She had to admit, she hadn’t expected Regina to show up. She had seen how blondie had kissed Emma and Emma immediately had shoved her away. Ruby could understand Regina’s reaction, she probably would have done the same, but Regina could have at least let Emma explain, right? Ruby felt Emma finally calm down and wriggled from out of her embrace.

“Thanks,” Emma said with a small voice.

Emma felt embarrassed. It was not like she and Regina were dating and yet here she was, bawling like a child and feeling broken into a thousand pieces. She didn’t know if she was overreacting, but she really had hoped she could talk things out with Regina. When all of this started, she at least had a shot at friendship with Regina and maybe more. After this stunt, she was left with nothing and somehow Emma couldn’t handle the thought of that prospect. She had a strong feeling she needed Regina in her life, even if it was just as a friend. Emma could swear it had meant something when they met for the first time at the Ceremony and she knew Regina knew it too. Otherwise she wouldn’t have invited Emma to the deserted ice rink, right?

“I screwed up,” she voiced her thoughts.

“If Regina didn’t give you a change to explain yourself, maybe you’re better off without her,” Ruby said seriously. Emma looked up at her doubtingly. “Look, I know how you feel about her and I was rooting for you two, but apparently she hasn’t changed since the last time I saw her. She's still a cold-hearted bitch,” Ruby explained.

“But she really isn’t,” Emma squeaked. “I am the one that keeps messing up. Not her.”

“She told you she wasn’t a dyke,” Ruby reminded her.

“Maybe she said that because she panicked,” Emma groaned.

It all had turned out much too complicated for Emma’s liking and for a split second, she wished she’d never met Regina. Regina had thrown her life completely out of its axes and without Regina in it, Emma didn’t like it.

“Well, we’ll never find out, I think,” Ruby said as she stood up. “Go get some sleep. You have a big game tomorrow,” she reminded Emma.

“I know. Thanks, Red,” Emma smiled a watery smile at her friend.

“You’re welcome. See you tomorrow,” Ruby replied and hugged her friend one last time.

“See you tomorrow.”

Ruby walked away and closed the door behind her. The room was filled with silence and darkness. Emma stumbled to the bathroom and got ready for bed. She felt empty inside, like nothing matter anymore. She hoped she would feel better in the morning and knew that boarding always helped to clear her head. Yet she doubted if it would help in this situation.

She dove into her bed but was unable to fall asleep. Instead, she grabbed her phone and started searching for American Sign Language. If, and that was a big if, she would get another change at making it right, she wanted to do it right. She struggled through numerous tutorial video’s and eventually she fell asleep well after midnight into a fitful sleep. Just before the sleep really got to her, she realized Zelena still hadn’t returned…

**February 13th – PyeongChang, 07.01**  
Emma woke up groggily, her phone had slid to the ground. She groaned as she remembered last night and as she looked aside, she noticed Zelena’s bed had been unslept. Worried, she sat up and sent Zelena a quick text to ask if she was alright. Yawning, Emma walked to the bathroom and jumped into the shower.

Regina had been on her mind all night and she decided that after she won gold, because of course she would, she would go and crash Regina’s practice to beg for forgiveness. She wouldn’t let Belfrey stop her this time. Determined, Emma got ready for the day and, after a quick breakfast, she took a lift with the early ski crew to the Phoenix Park.

She liked to get some training in before she really had to perform. She borrowed a board at the center and, before she knew it, she stood on top of the halfpipe. Here, everything seemed simpler. It was just her, her board, and the snow that mattered, nothing else was important. Emma glanced down the halfpipe, imagining her tricks and maneuvers and, without thinking further, she slid towards the lip of the halfpipe and sped down. Switching off her brain, she performed trick after trick.

After an hour she handed in her board and made her way to the halfpipe were the medal event would be held. More athletes had arrived and Emma soon found her team.

“There you are!” Ruby called as soon as she saw her. “I came to get you for breakfast. Are you okay?” Ruby asked softly.

“I woke up early and wanted to train some more,” Emma replied, smiling to Gold, who was looking concerned her way. “And I’m fine now,” she added softly to Ruby. “I’m not going to give up, I’ll figure something out.”

Ruby nodded, a small smile appeared on her face.

“Good. She deserves you.”

Emma smiled and hugged Ruby.

“Thanks. I’m really glad you’re here,” she said.

“Me too. Now let’s show the world who’s boss,” Ruby pointed out smirking.

Emma nodded and together they walked to Gold and Gideon. Gold gave his usual pep talk and after that it was only a waiting game. The event would start in less than an hour and Emma felt she started to get nervous.

“Ruby! Emma!”

Granny made her way to them and hugged them.

“Granny! You made it!” Ruby exclaimed happily.

“Of course. I wouldn’t want to miss this,” she replied and looked concerned at Emma. “Honey, are you okay?” she asked.

Emma grimaced, Granny always knew if there was something wrong. It had gotten her in trouble more times than she could count, but she was glad the woman was so observant.

“I’m fine, just didn’t sleep well,” Emma replied truthfully.

“You take care of yourself, kiddo,” Granny told her with a stern look.

“I will, I promise,” Emma smiled reassuring at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Good.”

Granny seemed to relax a bit after that and they chatted about the day to come and the expectation they both had. It almost turned into a fight when both Emma and Ruby claimed to go home with the gold.

“No matter who wins, you’re both champions to me,” Granny ended the argument effectively.

Both Emma and Ruby smirked, while still shoving each other around. Emma held Ruby at bay with one arm when her phone vibrated.

“Hold on, Red,” she said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

She unlocked her phone and saw she had received a text from Zelena.

“Is it Regina?” Ruby asked, as she quit shoving and leaned in to read the text as well.

“No, it’s Zelena.”

**Hot_red_skatergurl** : Good luck today! I slept over at Regina’s, no worries. X, Z.

Emma frowned. If Zelena had stayed over Regina’s, she must have heard all about their fight last night. Did this mean Zelena was still in her court? Why? Emma sighed, this was getting confusing. Was Regina not mad after all? She seemed livid last night, what had Zelena said to her and why was she defending Emma? Was she even doing that? Emma groaned, this was giving her a severe headache.

She needed to talk this out with Regina and hoped she could salvage some of the budding friendship. Or at least part without a fight.

“Earth to Emma. We got to go,” Ruby said, pulling her effectively back to the present.

Emma nodded and handed her phone to Granny.

“Go get ‘em, girls,” Granny beamed.

They said goodbye to Granny - Ruby had arranged for her to watch in the heated box - and jumped on the back of the snow scooters. Emma would start third and she watched as Ruby started her run. Ruby was giving her utmost best and ended up beating her own score from yesterday. Emma swallowed, it would be tough to beat her. Nerves were getting to Emma as the second snowboarder was about to go down. She focused on adjusting her bindings until they were tightened properly.

Finally, she got the sign she could move to the start. With some help from the staff, she glided to the top of the halfpipe. She had to wait until the scores from the second snowboarder were up and the halfpipe was given free. It felt like hours until she got the thumbs up and then she was hopping down a few times until she reached the smooth snow and slid to the lip of the halfpipe. As soon as she could, she dipped her board over the edge and sped down. She landed an Alley Oop with ease at the first jump, performing a quick switch before she landed and sped up to her next jump. She launched into an Switch Backside 900 and landed just as she had planned. She crossed the half pipe and lined up for a Haakon Flip. She landed hard and felt her ankle protest against the blow. She bit through the pain, two more tricks to go, she reminded herself. A Cab 1080 followed and this time she landed perfectly. With one more trick to go, she sped up for a Backside 900. Satisfied, she crossed the finish line where Ruby was waiting for her. Emma threw her board horizontal to eventually come to a stop. Ruby grabbed her and hugged.

“You did amazing!” she called beaming.

Emma grinned and moved her goggles on top of her helmet. She twisted to watch the scoreboard and to her surprise she had beat Ruby! Emma pumped her fists into the air.

“That’s how it’s done!” she yelled and hugged Ruby.

Ruby was as equally happy. Emma undid her bindings and with her board under her arm she walked to the press. The journalists jumped on both Emma and Ruby asking how they managed the competition between them.

“We are close friends and we both want to win, but we don’t begrudge each other. And hey, this was only the first run, Emma still can screw her runs up,” Ruby joked, earning her a shove from Emma.

After they finished the interviews, they walked behind the fences where Gold and Granny were waiting for them. Granny launched herself onto the girls, giving them both a big, loud kiss.

“I’m so proud of you both,” she squealed.

Emma and Ruby underwent the treatment a little embarrassed and were glad Gold pulled them away for a debriefing.

“Emma, that Switch Backside didn’t look comfortable. Your ankle?” he asked concerned.

“Yeah, I landed too hard,” Emma admitted, she knew she couldn’t hide anything for him.

“How is your ankle now?” he inquired further.

“A bit sore, but I’m good to go,” she replied nodding.

“Okay. Pay attention to your landings next time. Try to go easy on that ankle,” he warned her.

Emma nodded and listened in as he went through Ruby’s run and impressed on both of them to go big. Their positions were good now, but some of the big names were still to come. Both of them nodded and after the pep talk, they decided to go to the heated box to watch the rest of the runs. Eventually they ended respectively second and third and knew they had to take the risks already in the second run. Emma made a quick pit stop at the first aid to get her ankle re-taped and then it was time to go up for the second run. As she passed the spectators, she thought she saw a familiar brunette and next to her a redhead, but she shook her head. Regina wouldn’t been here, not after last night. Now was not the time think about Regina, she needed to focus on her upcoming run. Yet she felt fed up with the whole situation and, not for the first time these Games, she felt stupid for not asking Regina’s number. It would have made this whole situation easier.

_Or more complicated._

Emma jumped on the back of the snow scooter and tried to leave her sorrows at the bottom of the halfpipe. One of the staff handed her her board and Emma walked over to the bench. She would go second now. Ruby sat down next to her and bumped her shoulder.

“Nervous?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Emma grinned as she tightened her bindings.

“Good. Because I am,” Ruby groaned and Emma noticed her friend looked a bit green.

“You’ve got this,” Emma encouraged her.

Ruby gave a weak smile and nodded. Emma’s name got called and after a quick hug, Emma stood up and glided towards the top of the halfpipe. Looking down, serenity once again covered her like a blanket. She felt good and her ankle wasn’t bothering her too much. As she waited for the thumbs up, she pictured her tricks and decided she would try six tricks this time, just to up her difficulty a bit. She knew Ruby was planning that as well. Sooner than she had expected, she got the thumbs up and hopped down to throw her board sideways and slide towards the lip of the half pipe. Before she knew it, she was lining up for her first trick, a Michalchuk. She never could go wrong there, it was the trick that had qualified her for the finals. She sped towards the other side of the halfpipe and launched into an Double McTwist 1260 and landed it a tad bit too hard. Luckily, her ankle held and only stung for a second. Emma ignored it and knew she had to keep her tricks tight if she wanted to do six. She lined up for a Frontside Double Cork 1080, landing it hard again. She shook her head, she needed to get her head in the game. She sped up again, launching into a Cab 1080. She landed perfectly, with space to do a quick switch. She crossed the half pipe and got ready for a Switch Backside 900. As she landed she saw that, to her joy, there was space to add a last trick and she launched herself into a Crippler, speeding down the finish line overjoyed. She did it! She always wanted to try six tricks and never managed it. Excitedly, she pumped her arms in the air as the crowd went nuts. She undid her bindings and with her board in her hand, she watched the scoreboard.

After what felt ages, her scores appeared. She ranked number one again, with a score of 91.60, just above fan favorite Chloe Kim. Overjoyed, Emma cheered. She was doing it. She was setting insane records and wondered if anyone could surpass her. She knew Ruby had some crazy tricks up her sleeves. While still holding her board, Emma watched Ruby’s run from beneath the halfpipe. From what she could see and judging by the cheers of the crowd, Ruby was crushing it. Ruby ended with flair and sped over the finish line. Emma caught her and hugged her friend.

“That was awesome!” she yelled.

Together they waited for the scores and Ruby ended just below her with a .10 difference. They passed the journalists and Gold and Granny were waiting for them at the end of the press line. The waiting game started again and they resided in the heated box. It was still cold in South Korea and Emma was happy for the warmth. Her eyes scanned the crowd beneath them automatically but didn’t spot the brown hair or the red head again. She must have been imagining it, hoping against all hopes Regina would come to see her. Emma figured that change was zero, especially after their fight.

“How is your ankle holding up?” Ruby asked suddenly.

“It’s holding. Landed too hard two times, but I think I can manage a third run,” Emma replied, thinking out loud.

“You be careful. If your body tells you to stop, you listen!” Granny warned her concerned.

“I will. But sometimes you need to push to reach your goals,” Emma answered reassuring.

“I know, but still,” Granny nodded and gave Emma’s shoulder a quick rub.

Before they knew it, it was time for their third and final run. Emma had kept her first position, as did Ruby in her second spot. Emma knew she could nail this and decided to go all in. She had come so far and now she just wanted to win. She strapped her boots onto her board and was about to glide towards the top, when Ruby stopped her and hugged her.

“No matter who wins,” she whispered.

“No matter who wins,” Emma agreed, gave Ruby a kiss to her forehead and was off to the start.

The half pipe looked peaceful underneath her and she felt like she was going to write history here. She got the thumbs up and moved towards the lip of the half pipe. Just before she dipped over the edge, she heard a familiar voice yell ‘Go Emma!’

_Regina??_

Before she could think about it, she was speeding downwards. She lined up for her first trick, an Alley Oop and landed a bit too hard. She felt her ankle crack and pain shot up her leg. Emma bit through the pain, she could do this. Only four more tricks to go. She knew she needed to pick up the difficulty and without contemplating much more over it, she lined up for a Cab Triple Cork. She had discussed this trick at lengths with Gold and Ruby and she felt now was the time. As she launched up, she knew she had enough altitude and performed the trick. The rotations went well, but then suddenly the snow was underneath her and she just managed to pull her board underneath her. She landed hard and she felt her ankle twist nastily and gave out. Before she even could process it, she was thrown off balance as her knee twisted in an unnatural way. With a harsh sound she heard it break and with a scream of pain, she face planted against the wall and slid down. Pain from her ankle was completely paralyzing her. She drew ragged breath and reached for her ankle. Tears sprung in her eyes as she realized she couldn’t get up. The pain was too much to bear.

Suddenly there were hands on her and someone rolled her to her back. Someone else unstrapped her board and she yelled out in pain. Every movement with her leg hurt her and she thought she had broken every bone in her legs and back. The pain was like a white-hot flare licking up her spine, originating from her ankle. She bit down on her lower lip as someone quickly examined her ankle. Then four pair of hands were lifting her onto her stretcher and she got strapped in tight. With her hands on her head, Emma got lifted down the halfpipe. This was it, this was the end of her Olympic dream, shattered into a thousand pieces. She got carried away from the halfpipe and Gold came walking next to her. He said nothing, but his eyes said it all. She had never seen him this unraveled and it confirmed her worst fears. She was about to be slid into the back of an ambulance when someone yelled her name. Emma looked up and saw Regina running towards her, her face contorted in worry.

“Regina?” Emma croaked and motioned to the ambulance staff to wait.

Regina came to a halt next to the stretcher and Emma started to sign. She had practiced all night and hoped she got it right.

“I’m sorry,” she signed.

Regina laughed through her tears and planted a kiss on Emma’s forehead.

“I know,” she said.

The stretcher started to move again and Emma got slid into the ambulance. She kept her eyes trained on Regina until the doors closed. Crying with relief, Emma rested her head back.

Regina had come to see her after everything…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alley Oop: In halfpipe competition, when a rider rotates 180 degrees or more in the uphill direction. This increases the difficulty of a trick because the rider is spinning against their direction of travel.
> 
> Switch Backside 900:   
> Haakon Flip: An inverted aerial where the rider approaches the frontside wall of the halfpipe while riding switch. At the lip of the halfpipe the rider flips backwards into the pipe and rotates 720 degrees, landing forward down in the pipe. Named after Norwegian snowboarder Terje Haakonsen.
> 
> Cab 1080: A frontside rotation while riding switch.  
> Backside 900: A type of spin. After the first 90 degrees of the spin, the rider will be facing uphill, with their back pointed downhill.
> 
> Michalchuk: In halfpipe competition, a backflip done on the backside wall. Named after Canadian snowboarder Mike Michalchuk. Two flips would make this a double Michalchuk.
> 
> Double McTwist 1260: An inverted aerial where the snowboarder rotates 540 degrees or more and does a frontflip. Named after skateboarder Mike McGill. Two flips would make this a double McTwist.
> 
> Frontside Double Cork 1080: An off-axis rotation. If a riders inverts twice, the trick becomes a double cork. A third invert makes it a triple cork, and so on.
> 
> Crippler: In halfpipe competition, a backflip done on the frontside wall.
> 
> Cab Triple Cork: A frontside rotation while riding switch


	9. Chapter 9

**February 13th – PyeongChang, 19.30**  
Emma lay comfortably in the hospital bed. All afternoon they had prodded and pocked her and now she finally had some rest. The results off all the prodding and poking had come in half an hour ago; she had effectively broken both her tibia and fibula just below her knee, effectively torn her patellar ligament and tore a dozen other muscles and a bunch of ligaments. Next to that, she had broken her ankle as well. Tomorrow she would have surgery and after that it was just wait and see what happened.

She tried not to think about the future as it scared her half to death. She only hoped she would be able to snowboard. Her entire leg was in an ugly white cast, but thanks to medication she felt no pain. Although she felt tired as a dog, she couldn’t find a comfortable position to sleep. She was never one to sleep on her back, let alone in a noisy hospital. So know she was mindlessly flipping through South Korean T.V. channels, but due to the language she couldn’t find anything the watch. Eventually, she landed on the Olympics and decided to watch that without anything better. A knock on the door made her look up and she switched off the T.V.

Gold, Ruby and Granny had just left, as Ruby had to be on time for the medal ceremony. She had won gold, as Emma had been eliminated due to her fall. Ruby had been the runner up and automatically taken the first place.

“Come in,” she croaked.

The door opened and Regina appeared in the doorway.

“Hi,” she smiled shyly.

“Regina,” Emma breathed, a sudden warmth filled her chest.

Regina entered the room, closed the door and walked over to Emma. Regina searched Emma’s eyes and Emma smiled at her.

“How are you?” Regina asked.

“Sort of good, I suppose,” Emma chuckled. Regina grimaced and stood awkwardly next to Emma’s bed, as if not knowing what to do with herself. “You can sit down, you know. I won’t bite, I promise,” Emma joked.

Regina chuckled and Emma could swear that chuckle lit up the room and was the best thing she heard all day. Regina pulled a stool from underneath Emma’s bed and sat down.

“Thanks for coming,” Emma said sincerely.

“No problem. I thought we could talk now that you are confided to a bed and not able to run away with other damsels,” Regina replied jokingly.

Emma laughed and immediately a shot of pain went through her entire leg.

“Ouch, don’t make me laugh,” Emma groaned, her face split into a smile.

“I’m sorry. What did they say?” Regina motioned to her leg.

“That I’ve broken and torn a lot. I think it’s quite a mess in there,” Emma told her. “I have surgery in the morning,” she added as she tried to shift a little so she could look at Regina more comfortably.

“I’m so sorry. It looked really horrible,” Regina confessed.

“I can imagine,” Emma nodded and sighed. “So Belfrey let you go?” she asked, trying to steer away from her injuries.

Regina chuckled. “She doesn’t even know I’m here.”

“You’re playing hooky?” Emma gasped in mock surprise.

Regina laughed and shook her head. Emma noticed how her eyes sparkled whenever she laughed and decided she wanted to see that all the time. That is, if Regina forgave her.

“Not exactly. She ordered me to go to bed early since tomorrow is show time. But I found this more important,” Regina confided.

Emma looked away shyly, as her next question burned on her lips. They needed to talk about everything that had happened, but she didn’t want to ruin the mood. Finally she lifted her eyes and met Regina’s curious one.

“Does that mean you forgive me?” she asked softly.

“That depends,” Regina sighed, suddenly having a serious look in her eyes.

“On?”

“On you.”

Emma nodded and gathered all the courage she had.

“Okay. First of all, I’m sorry I blew you off when you came to apologize at the slopestyle event. I was annoyed at the cancelation and was still a bit pissed off about the dyke comment,” Emma started, looking at Regina with a frown.

Now it was Regina who looked away embarrassed. She watched as Regina gathered her emotions and look back at her.

“I… I didn’t mean it. I… I just panicked, I think. You’re the first woman I've kissed,” Regina confessed quietly, a shy look lay on her face.

Yes! Thought so!

“I was hoping that was it,” Emma replied, smiling reassuring at the fragile looking woman sitting next to her bed. “So I’m not mad about it. I still remember my first gay panic,” she chuckled.

“You had one?” Regina asked surprised.

“Of course,” Emma smirked. “It was after I went to a gay bar by accident. Some guys from my foster home had thought it was funny to send the new girl to a gay bar. Apparently it was a part of their hazing tradition. Anyway, I saw two girls kissing and I realized I wasn’t as opposed to it as I always thought. To be honest, I started to wonder what it would feel like. Later that night, I was kissed for the first time by another girl. It all went so fast and I ended up crying all the way back to the foster home,” Emma confided in Regina.

“And after that you realized you were gay?” Regina questioned.

“No, it took some time. It wasn’t until I met Lacey,” Emma remembered and smiled at the thought.

“Lacey?”

Emma turned her head back to Regina and shook her head.

“Nuhuh, maybe when I’m drunk,” she smirked.

Regina chuckled and they fell into a somewhat comfortable silence. Finally, Regina broke the silence.

“And that woman last night?” she asked hesitating, as if she didn’t want to know the truth.

“That…. That was a mistake. She kissed me and I shoved her away immediately. And then I saw you, the rest you know. To be honest, I was imagining I was dancing with you, even kissing you,” Emma admitted shyly.

“You were?” Regina asked surprised.

“Yeah, I wondered how it felt to dance with you,” Emma nodded and looked shyly up at Regina.

“And kiss me,” Regina added, her voice suddenly sultry.

“Yes,” Emma croaked.

Regina nodded and with a mischievously smile she stood up, to bow over the bed towards Emma’s face.

“I was wondering the same,” she said, biting on her lower lip.

“About the dancing, or…” Emma asked smartly, while looking at how close Regina was.

She was glad she wasn’t hooked to a heart monitor, the thing would have exploded by now. She stared at the teeth that sunk into Regina’s lower lip and her eyes glided upwards towards Regina’s eyes. They had turned a tint dark and Emma swallowed as Regina closed the distance between them. Finally, finally their lips touched and Emma closed her eyes as all of her senses went in overdrive. Regina’s lips moved against hers and a teasing tip of her tongue licked over Emma’s lips. Emma opened her lips to grant Regina access. One of them moaned and Emma wasn’t sure who it was. Regina tasted of cinnamon and vanilla and Emma thought she could drown in it. Regina was the first one to pull back, gasping slightly for air. Her cheeks were burning red and her eyes had turned even darker. Emma herself felt like she was on fire, everything tingled and radiated to her core until she felt the dampness between her legs. If Regina could generate this with only a kiss, Emma wondered idly what else she could do.

“No, the kissing,” Regina replied breathlessly.

Emma nodded and licked her lips. There was a slight hint of cinnamon and vanilla on them and Emma closed her eyes briefly to calm her hormones down. Now was not the time to jump Regina, not when something heavy clung to her leg. Regina sat back down, brushing her hair back with her fingers.

“Well,” Emma started as she cleared her throat.

“I wanted to do that from the moment I met you,” Regina admitted shyly.

“Me too,” Emma chuckled.

Regina’s hand found her way to Emma’s hand and she intertwined her fingers with Emma’s. Emma looked at it and wondered how it was possible that their hands fitted so perfectly. She gave Regina’s hand a soft squeeze, only to check she was not dreaming. She smiled as Regina responded with a small squeeze.

“Did Zelena convince you to come see me today?” Emma asked out of curiosity.

“She actually did,” Regina chuckled. “She had been in the House as well that night and saw you shoved that woman off you. She said and I quote ‘I needed to not be a pussy and ask you out’,” Regina told her.

“She did?” Emma snorted out loud.

Regina nodded and joined in on the laughter.

“It appears my sister ships us,” Regina smirked.

“She and Ruby,” Emma chuckled.

Regina shook her head and Emma felt her relax slowly. Emma looked aside her with a smile on her face, this really felt good. They sailed into a smooth conversation, Emma elaborated a bit more about her time and the system and explained that that was probably why she had reacted so harshly about Regina’s rejection in the ice rink. Regina on her end told a bit more about her relationship with Daniel, whom she couldn’t just stop working with because he was the best partner she ever had, and about the fact he was Henry’s father. Emma practically drooled over the photos of little Henry and was dying to meet him.

“How hard was it to grow up deaf?” Emma asked softly.

Regina took a deep breath and frowned slightly. Emma could tell she found it difficult to talk about and was about to say that she didn’t need to tell if she wasn’t ready for it when Regina spoke up.

“I wasn’t born deaf. I was just a normal kid until I turned four. I caught a cold and because of it, fluids build up in my ears. After the cold was gone, I was still partially deaf. My mom took me to the doctor and they diagnosed me with Ménière’s disease. I have a constant ringing in my ear and have periods of feeling dizzy when I’m sick. Having a loss of balance is part of the disease, but strangely enough it doesn’t affect my skating,” Regina told her honestly.

Emma’s mouth had fallen slightly agape, she had heard of the disease, but had no idea how serious it actually was.

“Damn. That sucks,” she uttered.

Regina chuckled and nodded.

“Sometimes it does. I can lead a good life and I can skate,” she smiled softly. “Doesn’t mean I haven’t had a hard time with it. I still do sometimes. Birthday parties are a disaster, especially with six year olds,” she chuckled, shaking her head at a memory.

“I can imagine. I think I would hide in my room for the rest of my life,” Emma mused out loud.

“That doesn’t do any good to you. You just need to get on with your life, make the most of it,” Regina replied earnestly.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” Emma said, as she looked astonished at Regina.

Shyly, Regina ducked her head. Emma bit her lower lip and pressed a kiss to Regina’s hand. Regina looked back up with a small smile and a single tear in her eye.

“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely.

They shifted into a comfortable conversation about their experiences with the Olympics and other events. Emma told her a hilarious story about how Ruby had chased after some dude only to find out he was as gay as they come. After talking for hours, Regina stretched her legs and stood up.

“I should get some sleep and so should you,” she said as she gathered her jacket.

“Good luck tomorrow. At what time are you on?” Emma asked.

“The event starts at 10 a.m. When is your surgery?” Regina wanted to know.

“Don’t know yet,” Emma answered, as the doctor still needed to let her know.

“Will you let me know? You’ve got my number now,” Regina asked.

Emma nodded and Regina stepped in to give Emma a goodnight kiss. She lingered longer than one would for it to be a normal goodnight kiss and Emma realized she could get used to this.

“Good night,” she whispered as Regina pulled back.

“Good night,” Regina replied. “And good luck to you too.”

Regina straightened her back and walked to the door. With the door in her hand, she turned to face Emma again.

“Emma? Thank you for the lovely night. How about we go on a proper date when you’re recovered?” she asked shyly.

“I’d like that very much,” Emma replied with a huge smile.

Regina ducked her head and disappeared out of the room. Emma closed her eyes, it finally happened. They talked and kissed, twice! She was so right that Regina had panicked and Emma could kick herself for being such an idiot. All the drama could have been avoided if she would have just listened to Regina’s apology at the slopestyle event. Emma grabbed her phone from the table next to her and startled at the time. It was already well past ten p.m.. She smirked as she sent Ruby a text before switching off the lights.

 **SnowySwan** : Melting the Ice Queen has succeeded!

 **February 14th – PyeongChang, 08.30**  
The door fell close behind the doctor. He had just told Emma she would be in surgery around 1 a.m., which meant Emma had to fast until then. She hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday and she was starving. Visiting hours wouldn’t start until eleven and Emma was bored out of her mind. She had been texting with Regina, but she was occupied with preparation for her event. With a smile on her face she thought back to last night. Having Regina by her side and physically touching had felt better then she had ever dreamt. Ruby had wanted to know all the details, but Emma had kept it decent and told her about the two kisses and hand holding. Ruby had raved over the phone and overly happy for her. Of course she had showed off the gold medal and had promised to take it with her when visiting.

“This one is yours too,” Ruby had said.

Emma had felt honored and shared in Ruby’s excitement. The gold did look good on her. Of course it stung a bit, but she was thrilled for her friend. If all went well, she could try again in four years.

But now, Emma was bored. It was nowhere near time for Regina’s event and there was nothing good or anything she could understand on the T.V. Emma settled on the sports channel, which showed reruns from yesterday. She perked up as she saw the Polish man she met on her first day here, was about to go down in skeleton. He made a pretty good time, but didn’t get a medal in the end. Commercials came on and, bored again, Emma scrolled through her Facebook timeline. She didn’t bother to open her notifications, ever since her crash fans were blowing up her Facebook. She knew they all meant well and was touched by their words, she just wasn’t in the mood for it now. She snorted at a silly photo Zelena had posted this morning of her and Regina on her timeline. It looked like they were in a giftshop and they were cuddling the cute Soohorang stuffed animals and pulling weird face. ‘Get well soon so you can cuddle with R! #SwanQueen!’ Zelena had written underneath it. Emma smirked and shook her head at the hashtag. She could imagine how Regina had reacted to that comment.

The commercial came finally to an end and a rerun of the snowboard halfpipe event started. Emma groaned, she had wanted to avoid this as long as possible. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to look away, it was like watching a train wreck that was bound to happen. They showed the highlights and Emma nodded satisfied as she watched her runs. Then the feared third run started and as she suspected, this got dragged out. She cringed as she saw herself fall for the first time. Some Korean expert came in view who started rambling. Even from a distance it had looked painful, she really had made a weird fall. Finally, they had dragged it out long enough, after showing it at least four times. They showed Ruby’s winning run and that was it for the snowboard reruns. They switched to the first live event, curling. Emma had never understood the sport and even now, it couldn’t interest her much.

The pain was slowly coming back as her latest medication started to wear off. Emma managed to snooze a bit until it finally was time for Regina’s event. A nurse had come in in the meantime to explain the procedure and do the standard routine before an operation. Emma had thanked her and was now completely ready to see Regina kick some ass. The starter list appeared and Emma saw Regina and Daniel were the fifth pair. She quickly sent a good luck text to both Regina and Zelena. Zelena immediately reacted.

 **Hot_red_skatergurl:** Thanks! Sooo nervous!

 **SnowySwan:** Me too! I’m watching now.

 **Hot_red_skatergurl:** I’m in the stadium now. I’ll wave when the camera passes!

 **Hot_red_skatergurl:** When is your surgery?

 **SnowySwan** : Around 1 a.m. And I’m fucking starving!

 **Hot_red_skatergurl:** Aaaw, I hope Regina can sate a bit of your hunger. She’s looking sexy!

Emma shook her head at Zelena, the girl really was a bit crazy. Maybe she and Ruby needed to meet, but Emma was a bit afraid of the whirlwind that would cause.

 **SnowySwan:** You’re crazy, haha.

 **Hot_red_skatergurl:** But you love me.

Emma looked up at the T.V. screen and saw the third pair was starting their routing. Mesmerized, Emma watched them, she found it astonishing how they could perform all these tricks and still land on their feet with such thin blades. Emma’s phone vibrated and she unlocked it.

 **Hot_red_skatergurl** : I don’t like this couple. She’s a stuck up bitch and he’s a sleezeball.

Emma snorted at Zelena’s comments and was bummed she couldn’t join her in the stands. That would have been hilarious. Zelena of course knew all the pairs and Emma suspected she would have enough gossip about all of them.

 **SnowySwan:** But they’ve got a good routine. Right?

 **Hot_red_skatergurl:** Meh, it’s so-so. It won’t earn them a medal.

Finally it was time for Regina and Daniel to enter the ice. The entire ice rink fell silent as the lights dimmed and the first notes of Stormy End by Sunrise Avenue started. Emma nodded, that was the perfect choice. Mesmerized, she watched as Regina started to move and float over the ice. Daniel followed her and they performed the most astonishing stunts. She applauded when they finished their routine and held her breath as they waited for the scores.

 **SnowySwan:** They did amazing!!!

 **Hot_red_skatergurl** : Yes!!!! OMG!!!

Emma chuckled as she imagined how excited Zelena was right now.

 **SnowySwan:** Does it always take this long for the scores to appear? With us it happens within minutes.

 **Hot_red_skatergurl** : Figure skating is a tad bit more difficult to judge then snowboarding. :P

Emma smirked and looked up just in time. The scores came in and they scored really high, 82.59, which placed them first for now. Emma applauded again and felt so proud. Quickly she sent another text to Regina.

 **SnowySwan:** Congratulations! That was truly amazing!

She didn’t receive an answer, but she hadn’t expected one any time soon. She watched the rest of the program and was truly impressed. She never had much interest in the sport, but it was really interesting and she was surprised how difficult it actually was. After the figure skating program the channel switched to ice hockey and Emma lost interest as it was a game between Sweden and Switzerland. Emma had planned to go watch a US game after her events, but unfortunately that wouldn’t happen now. Her phone buzzed and she quickly unlocked her phone.

 **Skating_Queen:** Thank you! I would have loved to have you here!

 **Skating_Queen** : Good luck to you too. Wish I was there with you.

 **SnowySwan:** Thank you. And I feel you here with me. See you on the other side!

 **Skating_Queen:** That’s morbid, Swan. Even for you ;)

 **SnowySwan:** Hahahaha. Enjoy your victory. See you soon! Xoxo.

 **Skating_Queen:** Thinking of you. Xxx

Warmth filled Emma and she wished Regina was here in person. She would have hugged the living daylights out of her. She grinned at the thought, she never had felt like this. It felt good, something she wanted to hang onto.

Soon after that, the nurses came to get her and they prepared her for the surgery. She got wheeled into the operating theatre and she tried to relax as they administrated the sedative. Before she could count to one, she drifted off to a dreamless sleep…

 **14th February – PyeongChang, 15.05**  
The first time she had woken up, everything was hazy. Her entire body felt like it was filled with lead and her leg ached a dull pain. Her eyes wouldn’t open as her eyelids felt way to heavy and it felt like her head was filled with cotton. Vaguely, she registered noises around her before she drifted back to sleep.

The second time she woke, she felt a bit more clear in her head and felt the urge to empty her stomach. She groaned as her stomach protested and she closed her eyes again.

The third time, faces were looking down at her. Now she managed to open her eyes properly and the first face she saw was Regina. She smiled and reached out to the face.

“’Gina,” she murmured.

A warm hand wrapped around her hand and contently she fell back asleep.

The fourth time, she woke up in her room and seemingly alone. The warm hand was still wrapped around hers and as Emma turned her head, she saw Regina sitting next to her bed, looking at her with a soft look on her face.

“Hey you,” she smiled softly.

“Hi,” Emma replied. “How did…?” she tried to ask, but her mouth was parched.

Regina reached behind her and magicked a cup to drink from. Thankful, Emma took a few sips. Regina placed the cup back and stroked the sweaty hair out of Emma’s face. Emma closed her eyes at the feeling.

“How did it go?” she tried again.

“Well,” Regina answered. “I didn’t get the whole story, but they were satisfied. You will have a lengthy recovery ahead of you,” she added concerned.

“I didn’t expect anything less,” Emma joked.

“Your coach has arranged for you to fly back to the States in a few days,” Regina told her.

Emma nodded and looked up at Regina. Lost in thoughts, she played with Regina’s hand.

“Then we won’t see each other much,” she remarked sadly.

“No. But I’ll visit as soon as I’m back,” Regina promised.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Emma smiled sleepily.

“Go back to sleep,” Regina urged.

“Will you stay?” Emma asked, suddenly scared of being without Regina.

“I will.”

Emma smiled contently and drifted back to sleep, dreaming of the warm brown eyes…


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this is it. The very last chapter of this rollercoaster. I had so much fun writing it! I want to thanks my beta, Margarida for painstakingly picking out all of my errors.  
> And of course I want to thank you all for following this journey with me and leaving me kind and encouraging messages! I couldn't have done it without you, really!  
> So, without further ado, the last chapter of (Falling For) A Stranger On Ice!
> 
> TW: mention of amputation

**May 19th – Portland, 09.10**  
The door of her bug closed with a slam and Emma looked up at the ski resort before her. She hadn’t been here in months. Two days after her surgery she had flown back to America where she had been admitted to a rehab facility in Boston. During her rehab she had developed a blood-cloth, causing severe pain and gangrene in her injured leg. In the end the doctors had decided to amputate her leg under her knee to prevent the spread of necrotic tissue and save her life.

Emma had been livid when she woke up without her leg and had bordered on the edge of a severe depression. But Regina and Henry had been through all of it with her, visiting her on a daily basis, supporting her through physical therapy and adjusting to her prosthetic. Emma had jokingly called them her saving angels.

Neal had been there as much as he could, but after the Olympics he had been signed by a big sponsor who claimed most of his time. Emma was happy for him, his career was sky-rocketing.

And of course Ruby and Zelena had been there, they had started dating right after the Olympics. At first, Emma had been hesitant about their relationship, seeing as they were both kind of whirlwinds of their own, but in some way they calmed each other down and were quite cute in the end. Emma had yet to come up with a ship name, just to tease them back.

Regina had done really well at the Olympics and taken home the gold. She had announced her retirement right after and left Daniel immediately, telling him he had a few good years ahead of him. Last Emma heard, he was training with some Russian skater. He was of course still in Regina’s and Henry’s life as he was Henry’s father, but he had given Regina and Emma his blessing. He had warmed up to Emma and even joked around with her whenever he was over. Henry had taken an immediate liking to Emma and they had started to plan his snowboard lessons, much against Regina’s likings. Emma had teased her, saying she would get Regina on a board eventually.

Emma took a deep breath before entering the ski resort. She had her first meeting with Gold in months. Gold had kept tabs on her and visited her frequently. They had talked about her future and Gold had surprised her by looking into the Paralympic sports. Emma had already decided to retire, but Gold convinced to at least try it, together with Regina. Emma hated it when Regina teamed up with Gold, but they succeeded as she had said yes. So now she was about to get on a board for the first time since her fall.

She walked into the ski resort and got greeted enthusiastically by Belle, who run the desk with an iron fist and a sugar-sweet smile.

“Emma!” she exclaimed and flew Emma around her neck. “I heard rumors you were coming back,” she beamed. “How are you?”

“Good. Up and walking and all,” Emma winked.

She liked seeing Belle again, she liked the woman very much. She was always friendly and sometimes even a bit shy, but she turned into pure rage whenever someone messed with the desk.

“Good. Gold told me you were getting back in the snow?” Belle asked as they walked to the canteen.

Belle and Gold made the oddest couple as they were married for a few years and together they owned the ski resort. Belle always called him by his last name and no one ever heard Gold’s name, but Belle must know it.

“Yeah, he and Regina convinced me,” Emma smirked, remembering that conversation.

_**April 4th – Boston** _  
_Emma had parked her way-too-big wheelchair in front of the window, trying to catch some of the early rays of sun. Spring was coming and she was able to watch as the trees changed colors since her room looked out over a park. The stitches in her leg itched and she still had to get used to the sight of her missing lower leg and foot. A few days ago, she had tried on a prosthetic and now they were going to perfect it. Trying it on had felt so strange and afterwards Emma had wanted to throw something. Everything felt so unfair right now. Ruby won her gold, Neal is on his way to be the next Shaun White, even Regina had won big at the Olympic with her partner, and she was here, stuck in a wheelchair. A knock on the door made her look up. Regina stuck her head around the door and smiled as she spotted Emma near the window._

_“Hey, honey,” she said as she walked in._

_“Hey,” Emma greeted her._

_Regina leant in and kissed her. Emma looked behind Regina as she heard more footsteps._

_“Ah, look who I ran into in the hallway,” Regina said cheerfully._

_Coach Gold smiled his always awkward smile as he visited and patted Emma on the shoulder._

_“How are you, Swan?” he asked, sincere._

_“I’m good coach. Good to see you,” Emma answered, smiling at him._

_“Likewise.”_

_Gold pulled up a chair as Regina gathered Emma’s laundry and put clean clothes in her closet. Gold stayed quiet for a while as if he were contemplating his next words._

_“Have you thought about going back on the board?” He asked eventually._

_Emma snorted and motioned to her leg._

_“With one leg? That’s bound to be a disaster,” she chuckled, but she had to admit, she had thought about it. Even dreamed about it._

_“I mean, when you have your prosthetic,” he corrected himself. “I’ve been doing research about it and there is a really good Paralympic program,” he continued as if he was scared she would cut him off right away._

_“I don’t know, Gold. I mean, isn’t this a sign from above?” She sighed, looking down._

_“You know I don’t believe in that sort of BS,” he remarked._

_Emma chuckled and for a second, Gold could see the old Emma. He had watched her change after the second surgery, where she had been so hopeful after the first. There had been nothing he could do to make things better and he had felt so helpless._

_“Trying wouldn’t hurt. Maybe you’ll even be good at it,” Regina pitched as she knelt next to Emma, placing her hand on Emma’s knee._

_Gold had watched that happen as well. He hadn’t been a big fan of Regina Mills, but when he saw how gentle and determined she had been with and for Emma, he had changed his mind. Regina had been good for Emma, helping to keep her from falling into a deep depression._

_“I don’t know. What if it doesn’t feel like it used to?” Emma asked, with a hint of fear in her voice._

_“It won’t ever feel the same, I’m afraid my dear. But it could still feel good. Different, but good,” Regina object. “Just try it. You can always decide to retire,” she offered._

_Thoughtfully, Emma nodded and stared out of the window sunken in thoughts. Gold and Regina exchanged a look, Gold hoped Emma would at least try it. He hadn’t wanted to push her._

_“Okay.”_

“Is she coming?” Belle asked eagerly, bringing Emma effectively to the present.

Emma chuckled. Belle and Regina had hit it off right away, babbling about kid’s stuff and Belle had absolutely fawned over Henry. She and Gold didn’t have kids yet and Emma knew it was something Belle struggled with.

“Yes, she is. I believe in the afternoon, Henry still has school,” Emma replied.

“Of course. Well, good luck. He’s waiting for you,” Belle winked as she left Emma at the threshold of the canteen.

Indeed, Gold sat waiting for her near the window. Emma took a deep breath and walked over to him.

“Ah, there you are,” he said as soon as he saw her.

Emma shook his head and sat across from him, suddenly nervous for what he had planned.

“So, I talked to a specialist and we need to get you a modified prosthetic. That is if you want to do this. But he suggested to first get on the board and get a feeling,” Gold started, looking up at Emma.

“Sounds good,” Emma replied.

“You still want to do this?” Gold asked inquiring.

“Yes. I may have been hesitant at first, but I miss it. I miss that feeling,” Emma admitted.

“Then let’s get you on your board,” he grinned and stood up.

Emma followed him outside to the training field for kids. She scratched her head as she watched the group of six-year-olds who all looked surprised as she joined them.

“Don’t mind them. Now you’re a beginner, just like them,” Gold reminded her as he handed her her board. It was her specially designed Swan-board and surprised she looked up at Gold. “It always brought you luck, figured you could use some,” he shrugged as if it was no big deal.

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Emma joked.

With some difficulty, she strapped her boots to the board and with help from Gold she stood up. It felt unaccustomed and way off balance.

“Take it easy, just feel the board,” Gold said as he saw her struggling.

Emma nodded grimly and tried to find her balance. Gold started to walk sideways while holding her tightly, preventing her from falling. After a while, Emma got the hang of it and managed to slide a few feet on her own, before losing her balance. Gold came to her aid and helped her up.

“You good?” he asked to be sure.

“Yeah. God, I’ve missed this,” Emma beamed.

After another hour of practicing, Emma’s legs were too tired to hold her and they decided to quit for today.

“And?” Gold asked.

“I wanna do this,” Emma said as she plopped down in the canteen at a table. “You too?” she asked, looking up at her coach.

“Definitely,” he grinned.

He left to get something to drink and Emma fished out her phone. She took a picture of her snow-covered boots and opened it on Facebook.

‘Back on the board!’ she wrote underneath it and hit post. Then she moved to her WhatsApp and texted the picture to Ruby, Zelena and Regina.

BoarderGurlll_Rube: Looking good! How did it go?

SnowySwan: Pretty well for the first time. Only fell about a dozen times.

BoarderGurlll_Rube: I’ll make sure to have enough ice.

Emma chuckled. After Neal signed for the big sponsor, he moved away and Emma had been living with Ruby ever since. She looked up as Gold returned with the drinks. He sat across from her looking thoughtfully.

“What’s on your mind?” Emma asked.

“Not much. Just that I’m so proud of you,” he replied as he picked up his drink.

Emma shyly ducked her head as her cheeks began to burn. Gold had never expressed what he thought very well and Emma felt honored.

“Thank you, but I haven’t done anything yet,” she countered.

“But you have. You’ve recovered and are back here. I know other people who would have run far away,” Gold noted seriously.

Emma chuckled and in comfortable silence they enjoyed their drinks. Eventually it became time for Emma to go teach and she rose to her feet. Gold walked with her for company.

“So back to teaching, huh?” he asked as he watched the children gather slowly.

“Yeah. Something has to pay the bill and I can still teach,” Emma winked.

Gold chuckled and watched as she started her lesson. Halfway through the lesson, he nodded his goodbye and strode off. Emma watched him go and knew she could count her blessings with having such a good coach and friend. Yes, she definitely counted him as a friend, especially after her rehab.

Soon the lesson ended and Emma glanced at her watch. Regina would arrive soon and Emma couldn’t wait to see her again. She waved goodbye to the children and walked back inside. As soon as she had set foot inside, a bolt of lightning raced her way and clung to her good leg. Emma grinned and lifted the boy up.

“Hello Henry,” she smirked and cuddled him.

“Emma!” he squealed.

She guided him back to the ground and walked over to his mother, who stood watching them from a few feet away. Regina smiled and opened her arms for Emma. Emma greeted her with a kiss that lingered a tad bit too long for young Henry, as he pulled on Emma’s arm.

“Are you ready for your first lesson?” Emma asked.

“Yes!”

The boy jumped up and down in excitement and ran ahead of his mother and Emma.

“I still think this is a bad idea,” Regina mumbled.

“He’ll be fine,” Emma assured her as she snaked her arm around Regina’s waist, pulling her effectively closer. “I won’t send him down the halfpipe yet,” she joked. “Only after a lesson or two,” she grinned as she walked over to Henry to help him select a board.

“Emma!” Regina roared, but still smiled as she saw the big smile on Emma’s face.

Emma enjoyed herself thoroughly. Henry appeared to be a natural, he managed to stay upright most of the time and even do a bit of a slalom at the end of his first lesson. She guided him and taught him how he could make sharper turns and most importantly, how to stop. Watching him, made her heart swell. She never spared a thought about having kids of her own, but seeing the love on Regina’s face and feeling the pull on her heart when watching him smile, made her rethink that. As Henry tried the slalom again, Emma walked back to Regina.

“How is your leg holding up?” Regina asked, concerned, she had noticed Emma limped more than usual.

“It’s sore, but I’ve been putting too much strain on it today,” Emma told her truthfully.

“How was your meeting with Gold?” Regina inquired further, while keeping a sharp eye on Henry.

“Good. He wants me to meet with an expert to fit for a modified prosthetic,” Emma answered, squinting at the sun. Regina nodded and sighed. Emma knew of the concerns she had and Emma shared them. She still wasn’t one hundred percent sure she wanted to do this. But standing on that board that morning had felt so good. “I haven’t decided anything yet, love,” Emma said as she looked up at Regina.

“I know. And I will support you if you decide to do this, you know that, right?” Regina asked quietly.

“I know. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Emma moved closer and kissed Regina passionately. Henry came to a skidding halt next to them, showering them in a curtain of snow, effectively breaking their kiss.

“I see you learned how to stop, kiddo,” Emma smirked as she tapped his helmet. “How about we go inside and you get a hot cocoa?” she suggested.

“Yeah, hot cocoa!”

Emma helped him undo his bindings and together they walked inside, Henry skipping ahead.

 **May 19th – Portland, 17.50**  
Emma walked Regina back to her car, Henry lay sleeping in her arms. Carefully, Emma placed him in the backseat and closed the door softly. The afternoon snowboarding had worn him out completely, especially after the snowball fight with the other kids. Emma looked up and saw Regina was studying her.

“What?” she asked with a half smirk.

“I’ve been thinking,” Regina started.

“Uh-oh,” Emma chuckled and leaned against the car.

“Now that I’ve retired, I planned on returning to my hometown. My parents had a mansion there and it’s still in my possession after they died. I want for Henry to have a normal childhood and I have fond memories of that place,” she continued and took a deep breath. “The thing is, it’s in Maine.”

Emma’s mouth fell open.

“Maine? As in Maine on the other side of the country?” she asked surprised.

Regina nodded.

“Yes. I understand if you want to stay here, but…” Regina’s voice trailed off, as she played with the ring on her finger.

Emma had given her that ring at their second date, as some sort of promise ring. She had the exact same ring around a necklace.

“But?” Emma pushed.

“I was wondering if you would want to move in with us. I mean, Henry is crazy about you and…”

“Yes,” Emma interrupted her with a huge smile. “Of course I want that. I want to spent the rest of my life with you and Henry.” Regina looked closed to tears and Emma pulled her in her arms. “There’s no doubt about it,” she added softly.

 **June 5th – Camden, Maine**  
Emma woke up slowly to the rays of sun in her face. Lazily, she stretched and her arm hit something soft and warm. With a smile on her face she looked aside her. Regina was still sleeping peacefully and Emma thought she had never seen such a beautiful sight. Two weeks ago they had moved to Regina’s parents' mansion in Maine. Saying goodbye had been hard, especially from Gold and Neal. She had promised Gold to think about returning to snowboarding, and he had accepted it graciously. Ruby and Zelena had decided to tag along and had moved into a house not far from theirs. There was a great skiing resort here in Camden and Ruby had found a coach there.

Regina moved and nestled herself against Emma. Emma smiled and wrapped her in her arms. She thought she had never been this happy.

 _Operation Melt the Ice Queen – Succeeded._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may bribe me for a sequel with coffee, chocolates and reviews :P


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